Bush, Merkel Discuss Georgia

“Russian provocations” against Georgia were discussed by U.S. President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during their June 11 talks in Berlin, U.S. officials said.  

“On Georgia, they talked about the risk of escalation in the region because of the Russian provocations since April, and talked about ways that they could work together to reduce tensions in the region,” Judy Ansley, Deputy Assistant to the U.S. President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Regional Affairs, told reporters on June 11 on board Air Force One en route from Berlin to Rome.

The U.S. has called on Russia several times “to reconsider some provocative steps” it has taken in respect of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia.