EU alarmed at Russian missiles in Abkhazia

EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Police Catherine Ashton has expressed alarm over the deployment of Russian anti-aircraft missiles in Abkhazia.

In a statement on Friday, which follows the confirmation by Russian officials of the deployment of S-300 missile complexes in the breakaway Georgian republic of Abkhazia, Ashton has made it clear that the Russian move is increasing the tension in the Caucasus.

What is more, she believes that the deployment of the missiles presents a violation on part of Russia of the six-point agreement brokered by the French EU Presidency in August 2008 in order to put an end to the Georgian-Russian War over South Ossetia earlier the same month.

Later on Friday, the Spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrei Nesterenko declared that the deployment of the missiles in Abkhazia was actually stabilizing the Southern Caucasus, and was not surprise as it served to defend the two breakaway republics from “Georgian revenge.”