Western threats are meaningless.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a trip to the region Thursday, beginning with talks in France on her way to Tbilisi.
Lavrov, in remarks broadcast on Russian radio, sounded unconcerned about White House threats that Russia could suffer a chill in relations with the West because of its incursion into Georgia.
“I don’t know how they are going to isolate us,” Lavrov said during an interview on radio station Echo Moskvy. “I have heard threats that we are not going to be admitted to the (World Trade Organization), but we see clearly that nobody is going to admit us there anyway,” he said.
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His remarks were translated by the Interfax news service. “Excuse my language, but they’re just stringing us along.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry also issued a formal response to Bush’s recent remarks on the situation, rebuking the United States for taking what it said was a one-sided view of the conflict.
“We regret that the U.S. still refuses to admit the real cause for what happened, which is that (Georgian President) Mikhail Saakashvili’s regime, in violation of all its international obligations, unleashed a war against the people of South Ossetia,” the statement said.
Bush said Wednesday that Russia’s actions could make it unfit for membership in international political, economic and security alliances.
Bush also reiterated U.S. support for Georgia, dispatching Rice to Tbilisi and ordering U.S. military forces to begin delivering humanitarian aid.
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