Georgia. How the peace plan was developed. Alexander Stubb
(B2) Alexander Stubb, Finland's Foreign Minister (and former MEP), told Finnish journalists from Helsingin Sanomat, his account of the negotiations. Added to confidences of diplomats (Finnish), this gives another tone, another angle of the negotiations than those heard, in France in particular. Interesting.
It was a "slightly surreal" experience, he says. “A total improvisation. There was no plan”. On his blog, which he continued to hold (even as Minister of Foreign Affairs), he wrote on the Thursday before the crisis: "I fear the worst". The worst having happened... the minister interrupts his holidays in Sardinia and returns to Helsinki. But there is a big problem. The OSCE Chairman-in-Office has no means of getting there. "For incomprehensible reasons, the Finnish state had no aircraft available". And no company was ready "to provide a rental plane for Tbilisi". Prosaically, the minister then turns to France: "I had a mandate (as president of the Osce), they had planes". paris where "we were slowly beginning to understand that the crisis required a trip to Georgia", comments the journalist ironically, reflecting the words of Finnish diplomacy.
The famous peace plan was born on the plane
On the plane that connects Paris to Tbilisi, Stubb outlines a plan comprising several points, starting with humanitarian access, mutual withdrawal and dialogue within international organizations. This is the one that will serve as the basis for the discussion later. On arrival, they meet the Georgian president, for a dinner in the middle of the night, on the terrace. The surprise continues: the Georgian president offers the two Europeans a trip to Gori in the middle of the night. The two Ministers propose to postpone this until the next day. The impression that Stubb has at this time is that the Georgians have somewhat improvised this conflict and that nothing is planned. Even at the height of the fire, the Georgian president was planning his trip to Beijing for the Olympics!
A slightly whimsical Georgian president signs a 4-point peace plan
On Monday morning (August 11), the Europeans have in hand a paper proposing a peace approach (a "non paper" in diplomatic jargon), drawn up at the French Embassy, based on the Stubb plan, improved with the help "Finnish diplomats who knew the situation on the spot" and French diplomats. Georgian Foreign Minister Eke Tkeshelashvili agrees. But big problem: Saakashvili cannot be found, the Minister does not know where she is. Finally, the Georgian President is located in his office. And he signs the four-point peace plan. This includes references to the territorial integrity of Georgia and the obligation to withdraw Russian troops (notions that will be diminished in the plan finally signed).
Stubb loses company to Kouchner...
Stubb wanted to go to Moscow immediately to continue the negotiation. But Bernard Kouchner has other plans: he wanted "to be in contact with the population". As a result, everyone goes to Gori. And there in front of the cameras, we take out a body accompanied by a doctor and a monk, for the occasion. “War propaganda” according to Stubb. A word that often comes up in his mouth. The Finnish minister finally decides, on Monday evening, to divert his traveling companion and join Moscow, via Yerevan and the road. He arrives in the Russian capital on Tuesday morning (August 12)... at the same time as Kouchner. But the latter does not want to take part in negotiations with his Russian counterpart, Lavrov. Stubb will only find his French counterpart on Wednesday morning, in Brussels, during the Council of Foreign Ministers.
...But in Moscow it is Sarkozy who negotiates with Medvedev
The French president had "taken matters into his own hands", explains Stubb. "We had nothing against it," he continued. But at this time, the Finn is excluded from the negotiations. He still meets Lavrov who explains to him, during lunch, that Medvedev (the Russian president) will soon announce a ceasefire. Unlike in Tbilisi, in Moscow the leaders had well-developed plans, comment the Finns.
...the Russians had a well-prepared plan
Putin had invited himself to negotiate with the French President (the Russian Prime Minister still has an office in the Presidential Chancellery, with around fifty people, in charge of foreign affairs). And a fifth point appeared - the famous "additional security measures" - which in fact gives the Russians room to maneuver in Georgia in the name of "peacekeeping".
(NGV)
NB: the Finnish minister left for Tbilisi on August 21 with the first two OSCE military observers.
Photo credit: Stubb blog "Kouchner and Stubb on arrival in Tbilisi" - Elysée "Sarkozy and Medvedev on August 12.
