Azerbaijan, Baku, 11 September/ Trend , corr A. Gasimova/ In the face of this Russian assault on Georgia, the United States is pursuing four key objectives: supporting Georgia; blunting Russia's strategic objectives of dismembering Georgia and undermining the Southern Energy Corridor and bolstering our friends and partners in the broader region, Matthew Bryza, assistant US Secretary of State said in the State Department on 11 September.
"First, we must support Georgia. We seek to address humanitarian concerns; sustain confidence in Georgia's economy and restore economic growth; preserve the Georgian peoples' democratic right to elect and maintain their leaders, and assist them in strengthening the country's internal political checks and balances," Bryza said.
He said US has already taken immediate steps to address Georgia's humanitarian needs.
"Our second key objective is to prevent Russia from drawing a line through Europe and declaring that nations on the wrong side of that line belong to Moscow's "sphere of influence" and therefore cannot join the great institutions of Europe and the transatlantic family," Bryza said. President Medvedev's recent statement of Russia's foreign policy principles implies such a claim, he said.
"Third, we need to explore ways to shore up other countries on Russia's periphery, and take advantage of some possible opportunities offered by the fallout from Russia's invasion of Georgia," diplomat said.
According to Bryza, Above all, we need to remove other opportunities for Russia to fish in troubled waters. The best way to do so is to redouble our efforts to ease tensions and resolve conflicts throughout the region," he added.
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