Rice Calls on Tbilisi, Moscow to De-Escalate Tension

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Tbilisi and Moscow to lower rhetoric and to defuse tensions, AP and Reuters reported on October 21.

Speaking with reporters aboard of plane en route from Beijing to Moscow on October 21, Rice said that “we’ve been clear with both sides that cooler heads need to prevail here.

?The rhetoric really needs to be lowered? People need to step back and realize that they are neighbors? That is something that really everybody has to be very careful about because that’s the kind of problem that could get out of control,? Rice said.

?We are asking the Georgians and the Russians to do everything they can to de-escalate the tensions? I would be especially concerned that there would be no rhetoric which might encourage activity military, provocative activity in these frozen conflicts of Abkhazia or South Ossetia,? Rice said.

?I think that [military action] is the kind of problem that could get out of control. I will talk to the Russians about that problem,? she added.

Rice also said that she will discuss the issue during his talks with the Russian leadership in Moscow.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)