RUSSIA HAS praised EU leaders for their “realistic” decision of not imposing any sanctions on their country following the Georgia crisis.
The 27 member states of the European Union managed to find a common political declaration over the crisis after an emergency meeting on Monday in Brussels.
EU leaders decided to suspend talks on a strategic pact with Russia until its troops were withdrawn from Georgia.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said that the outcome of the EU summit was “double-edged”.
“A reasonable, realistic point of view prevailed because some of the states were calling for some mythical sanctions,” he said.
He added that he regretted that “there is still no understanding of what motivated Russia to make decisions on repelling the Georgian aggression and recognising South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states”.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who stepped down as Russia’s president earlier this year, said the EU position revealed “common sense”.
