August 20, 2008 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Aug 20, 2008

200808.jpgTODAY: US and Poland sign missile agreement; Abkhazia to request recognition of independence; Russian troops to be out of Georgia by Friday; Georgia to reinstate monarchy?; all eyes on Ukraine; Nato freezes Russian relations; Russian Democrats comment on war; Belarus coerced into support? Poland and the US will sign an agreement on an anti-missile base today. Polish President Lech Kaczynski maintains that “no one who has good intentions toward us and toward the western world should be afraid of (the shield).” The White House is demanding that Moscow return any US equipment its forces seized in Georgia. Georgia’s separatist region of Abkhazia plans to formally request today that Russia recognize its independence. Russia and Georgia have struck a tentative agreement to accept unarmed military observers from the OSCE. Russia says that a draft UN Security Council resolution on Georgia contradicts the terms of last week’s ceasefire deal, which stipulated that its troops could remain near the South Ossetian border. Nicolas Sarkozy now wants Russia to completely withdraw from all Georgian territory, and the Kremlin says it will pull all troops out by Friday. Might Georgia reinstate its monarchy?