Russia”s prime minister blasted the United States on Thursday for its inability to keep Georgia from attacking South Ossetia, and said that this had damaged bilateral relations.
“This [inability] of course harmed our relations, first of all intergovernmental,” Vladimir Putin told CNN in an interview.
Tbilisi launched a military offensive against South Ossetia on August 8, seeking to retake control of the breakaway region. At least 64 Russian peacekeepers and hundreds of South Ossetian civilians died, with thousands more forced to flee the devastated republic.
Putin said Russia had hoped the United States would step into the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict and stop Georgia attacking South Ossetia.
“We expected the U.S. to intervene in the conflict and stop the aggressive actions of the Georgian leadership,” Putin told CNN.
However, Putin said, “The U.S. administration not only failed to restrain the Georgian leadership from this criminal action, but the American side in fact trained and equipped the Georgian army.”
Seven of the world”s leading industrialized nations have condemned Russia”s decision on Tuesday to recognize Georgia”s breakaway republics as independent, while calling on Moscow to withdraw its troops from Georgia.
“We, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, condemn the action of our fellow G8 member,” the group said in a joint statement.
