Georgia apprehends Kosovo independence

PanARMENIAN.Net - Georgia appealed for the U.S. and European support in the event that a crisis in Kosovo should spread to the Caucasus and threaten Georgia's territorial integrity.



"We hope our friends and allies in the west take a firm position on the inapplicability of the Kosovo case to Georgia. In other words, Kosovo is sui generis," Georgia's Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said in an interview with the Financial Times.



He fears that if the U.S. and most European Union member-states recognize Kosovo's independence, Russia might retaliate by recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia.



Mr Gurgenidze won support for his position on Kosovo from Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's external relations commissioner, with whom he held talks in Brussels.



"We do hope also that Russia will understand that, certainly on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, things should remain as they are," she told reporters.