Meeting of the North
Atlantic Council at the level of Foreign Ministers held at NATO Headquarters,
Brussels,
On 19 August
2008
Statement
The North Atlantic Council met in special Ministerial
session on 19
August 2008, expressed its grave concern over
the situation in Georgia and
discussed its wider implications for Euro‑Atlantic stability and security. A peaceful and lasting solution to the
conflict in Georgia must
be based on full respect for the principles of
Georgia’s
independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity recognised by international
law and UN Security Council resolutions. We deplore all loss of life, civilian
casualties, and damage to civilian infrastructure that has resulted from the
conflict. We are assisting
humanitarian relief efforts. We met
with the Chairman‑in‑Office of the OSCE, Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr.
Alexander Stubb, to discuss the key issues which he believed needed to be
addressed.
We welcome the agreement reached
and signed by Georgia and
Russia,
through the diplomatic efforts of the European Union, the OSCE and the
US, to end
the hostilities and to bring about a political solution to the conflict. We stand fully behind these efforts.
We stress the urgency of swift,
complete, and good faith implementation of the agreement, including a new
international mechanism to monitor respect for these engagements. Military action must cease definitively
and military forces must return to their positions held prior to the outbreak of
hostilities. Fully international
discussions must begin on the modalities for security and stability in Abkhazia
and South Ossetia. Economic activity in
Georgia,
including international aviation and shipping, must not be
hindered.
We are gravely concerned by the
humanitarian situation. Allied
governments are working together, and in concert with international
organisations and others in the international community, to ensure that the
civilian populations affected by the conflict have the assistance they need to
meet immediate and ongoing humanitarian needs. We call on all parties, in accordance
with their obligations under international humanitarian law, to ensure access
for international humanitarian relief efforts to all affected
populations.
We have also agreed today to
support Georgia,
upon its request, in a number of areas.
In addition, we have agreed to task the North Atlantic Council in
Permanent Session to develop with Georgia
rapidly the modalities for a NATO‑Georgia Commission. This Commission will supervise the
process set in hand at Bucharest, including
the measures of support agreed at today’s meeting. These measures are intended to assist
Georgia, a valued and long‑standing Partner of NATO, to assess the damage caused
by the military action and to help restore critical services necessary for
normal public life and economic activity.
Georgia's
recovery, security and stability are important to the
Alliance. NATO will continue to cooperate with
Georgia in
the framework of the Partnership for Peace and
Georgia’s
Individual Partnership Action Plan with NATO, and will review any additional
Georgian requests for assistance.
We also welcomed the fact that a number of our governments have
indicated that they
will actively support measures to help the economic reconstruction of
Georgia.
The conflict between
Georgia and
Russia has
compromised regional stability and security. We deeply deplore the use of force in
the conflict between Georgia and
Russia. We reiterate that there is no military
solution to the unresolved conflicts.
We remind all parties that peaceful conflict resolution is a key
principle of the Partnership for Peace Framework Document.
We remain
concerned by Russia's
actions during this crisis and remind
Russia of
its responsibility for maintaining security and order in the areas where it
exercises control, especially in light of continuing reports of
Russia’s
deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure. Russian military action has been
disproportionate and inconsistent with its peacekeeping role, as well as
incompatible with the principles of peaceful conflict resolution set out in the
Helsinki Final Act, the NATO‑Russia Founding Act and the Rome Declaration. We call on
Russia to
take immediate action to withdraw its troops from the areas it is supposed to
leave under the six‑principle agreement signed by President Saakashvili and
President Medvedev. The Alliance is
considering seriously the implications of
Russia’s
actions for the NATO‑Russia relationship.
In 2002, we established the NATO‑Russia Council, a framework for
discussions with Russia,
including on issues that divide the Alliance and
Russia. We have determined that we cannot
continue with business as usual. We
call on Moscow to demonstrate
– both in word and deed – its continued commitment to the principles upon which
we agreed to base our relationship.
We reaffirmed our commitment to the
decisions taken by Heads of State and Government at the Bucharest Summit in
April 2008, including those regarding Georgia’s
Euro‑Atlantic aspirations, and we will continue our intensive engagement with
Georgia to
address in December the questions pertaining to its Membership Action Plan
application, taking into account developments until that time.