Russians Halt NATO Co-operation

Via BBC -

Russia has told Nato it is halting all military co-operation, the bloc says, as the crisis over Georgia deepens.

The Russian move follows a statement by Nato that there would be no "business as usual" with Moscow unless its troops pulled out of Georgia.

However, the alliance had stopped short of freezing co-operation with Moscow.

Meanwhile, a top Russian general said that the withdrawal of the bulk of Russia's troops would be complete in about 10 days.

Gen Vladimir Boldyrev, commander of the Russian ground forces in the region, referred to the pullout of troops "sent to reinforce Russian peacekeepers" in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.

It was not immediately clear how Gen Boldyrev's comments would fit in with a previous Russian commitment to withdraw its forces to behind a buffer zone around South Ossetia by the end of Friday.

Moscow has said it intends to keep some 500 troops in what it called a "zone of responsibility" as part of a peacekeeping mission.

In a separate development, South Ossetia and Abkhazia - another Georgian breakaway region - held mass rallies calling for independence.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow's response to their pleas would depend on the conduct of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Nato spokeswoman Carmen Romero said the alliance "takes note" of Russia's decision to halt co-operation but had no further reaction to it.

Speaking to reporters in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, Mr Lavrov said Russia was not going "shut any doors" to future co-operation with Nato.

But he warned that the alliance had to decide what was more important to it - supporting Mr Saakashvili or developing a partnership with Russia.