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| Miliband urges Russian withdrawal | Miliband urges Russian withdrawal |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| David Miliband has said Russian troops in Georgia should withdraw to pre-7 August positions and criticised the "19th Century way" of doing politics. | David Miliband has said Russian troops in Georgia should withdraw to pre-7 August positions and criticised the "19th Century way" of doing politics. |
| The foreign secretary said the sight of tanks rolling into Georgia would have brought a chill to people's spines. | The foreign secretary said the sight of tanks rolling into Georgia would have brought a chill to people's spines. |
| It was "unacceptable" Russia was trying to assert the concept of "ex-Soviet space" in border disputes, he said. | It was "unacceptable" Russia was trying to assert the concept of "ex-Soviet space" in border disputes, he said. |
| Other countries on its borders needed to be assured that their territorial integrity was secure, he told the BBC. | Other countries on its borders needed to be assured that their territorial integrity was secure, he told the BBC. |
| Russian and Georgian troops have been fighting over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia. | Russian and Georgian troops have been fighting over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia. |
| 'Unacceptable' | |
| But Mr Miliband told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there had been "blatant aggression" by Russia outside South Ossetia, in Abkhazia and into parts of Georgia. | But Mr Miliband told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there had been "blatant aggression" by Russia outside South Ossetia, in Abkhazia and into parts of Georgia. |
| "The sight of Russian tanks rolling into part of a sovereign country on its neighbouring borders will have brought a chill to the spine of many people, rightly, because that is a reversion to - it's not just Cold War politics, it's a 19th Century way of doing politics." | "The sight of Russian tanks rolling into part of a sovereign country on its neighbouring borders will have brought a chill to the spine of many people, rightly, because that is a reversion to - it's not just Cold War politics, it's a 19th Century way of doing politics." |
| He added: "That is simply not the way international relations can be run in the 21st Century." | He added: "That is simply not the way international relations can be run in the 21st Century." |
| FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme | |
| Mr Miliband was speaking as it appeared French President Nicholas Sarkozy had agreed an outline plan with Russia and Georgia to try to resolve the crisis. | Mr Miliband was speaking as it appeared French President Nicholas Sarkozy had agreed an outline plan with Russia and Georgia to try to resolve the crisis. |
| He said there should be a retreat back to pre-7 August positions, pending international engagement" on the security and stability of the area, consistent with the territorial integrity of Georgia". | He said there should be a retreat back to pre-7 August positions, pending international engagement" on the security and stability of the area, consistent with the territorial integrity of Georgia". |
| "Countries need to know that their territorial integrity is secure," he said. | "Countries need to know that their territorial integrity is secure," he said. |
| He told the BBC that on the Georgia issue, and other disputed border areas, "the Russians want to assert this concept, I think, of 'ex-Soviet space', somehow denying that these are independent countries with territorial integrity of their own. I think that is unacceptable." | |
| He added: "It's not good for Russia to continue to believe that it is suffering a hangover from the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union does not exist anymore. There's no such thing as ex-Soviet space." | |
| He said the "new map" of eastern Europe had to be defended in the interests of stability and it was in Russia's interests to do so. |