20:45, 22 August 2008

US Ambassador in Moscow: Russia's response to Georgia's actions in South Ossetia was reasonable

John Beyrle, US Ambassador to the Russian Federation, believes that Russia was absolutely reasonable in responding to the attack of Georgia on Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia.

This stand is contradictory to the viewpoint of official Washington, where from the very beginning the conflict in South Ossetia was characterized as nothing else but Russia's aggression against Georgia. Candidates for US president Barack Obama and John McCain had also always stood for withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia.

"We see that Russian troops quite reasonably responded to the attack on Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. But now these troops have entered the Georgian land, and the territorial integrity of Georgia is in question. Now we convince the Russian party to respect the ceasefire agreement and withdraw the troops out of Georgian territory," said the diplomat in his interview to the "Kommersant".