British Foreign Secretary David Miliband
warned Russia Wednesday not to start a new Cold War, and suggested the European
Union and NATO should review their relations with Moscow, dpa reported. "Russia is not yet reconciled to the new map of this
region," he said after Russian president Dmitry Medvedev recognised the
independence of Georgia's two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Medvedev's "unilateral attempt to redraw the map marks a moment of real
significance," Miliband said in a speech in the Ukraine capital Kiev.
"The Russian president says he is not afraid of a new Cold War. We don't
want one. He has a big responsibility not to start one."
Miliband said the EU and NATO should respond to such "aggression"
with "hard-headed engagement," and suggested the EU and Nato needed
to review relations with Russia.
He also reiterated London's support for Ukraine's application for full Nato
membership, to which Russia and many Ukrainians are opposed, but he rejected
calls for Russia to be expelled from the G8, as Moscow was too deeply
integrated in the global economy.
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