17 March 2007, 22:55
Abkhazian vice-president: Georgia's accession to NATO will aggravate the situation in North Caucasus
Raul Khadzhimba, vice-president of Abkhazia, does not exclude that after Georgia's accession to NATO the situation may considerably aggravate not only in the Caucasian countries but also in the whole North Caucasian Region, which is administratively represented by the South Federal District (SFD) of Russia.
"You understand quite well that it will be a rather complicated situation, when NATO will actually stand at the Russian border and be same interested in rendering its geopolitical influence on the Caucasus," Mr. Khadzhimba told in his interview to the "Vesti-North Caucasus" web-site, having added that Abkhazia will continue striving for its international recognition "irrespective of Georgia's accession to NATO."
Sergey Shamba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia, has supposed that Azerbaijan will follow Georgia towards NATO, and then, Armenia will have to do the same. "Today, Russia should hurry up with recognition of Abkhazia, which can become the only buffer state between Russia and NATO in the region," Mr. Shamba told the "Interfax" Agency.
