MOSCOW. Aug 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Moscow regrets that the U.S. is still determined to provide military support to Georgia, said a high-ranking Russian diplomat.
"The U.S. and Georgia are sovereign states and can decide on their own in what areas it is best for them to cooperate. However, it is highly regrettable that the Americans are going to further pump up Mikheil Saakashvili's military machinery. You would agree that this is a more than strange way to support democracy," Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Interfax on Tuesday.
In commenting on U.S. diplomats' assurances that the U.S. would not provide Georgia with heavy military equipment, Karasin said, "Experts know well that the borderline between offensive and defensive weapons is quite relevant."
"We have also been told something different, namely, that military cooperation will be limited to assistance to army reform and personnel training. Well, let's see what is done in practice," he said.
"Washington is playing the key role in rearming the Georgian military machine," he said.
Moscow will not look indifferently at "someone again openly arming an unpredictable regime right near our borders on the Caucasus and saying at the same time that this is being done to strengthen a young Georgian democracy," Karasin said.
"It would be in the interests of Georgian democracy and the Georgian people to refuse to arm this country at all. This would save more funds on real economic development, and Georgia's neighbors would feel safer, too," he said.