"Russia must remain a partner, it's our neighbor, it's a large country, and there is no question to go back to a Cold War situation, that would be a big mistake," Kouchner said.
In the weeks since Russian forces routed the Georgian Army and seized the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, Russian officials have used bellicose language toward the West. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the former president and former KGB chief, has suggested the United States was to blame for the war for helping the Georgian military rebuild.
At a meeting yesterday of the State Council, Medvedev said the world had changed since the beginning of fighting in Georgia last month. "We have reached a moment of truth. It became a different world after Aug. 8," he said.
"Russia will never allow anyone to infringe upon the lives and dignity of its citizens. Russia is a nation to be reckoned with from now on," Medvedev told the council, a government consultative body of largely regional governors.
Medvedev criticized the United States and other Western nations, though not by name, for challenging Russia's intervention.
"Millions of people supported us, but we've heard no words of support and understanding from those who in the same circumstances pontificate about free elections and national dignity, and the need to use force to punish an aggressor," he said.
The United States has moved to counter Russia, both lambasting Moscow for what it called a disproportionate military response and providing humanitarian and economic aid to Georgia.
In Italy yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney blasted Russian actions in the war as an "affront to civilized standards" and said Moscow has given "no satisfactory justification" for invading Georgia.
Cheney spoke at an economic conference in Cernobbio, Italy, following visits to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine, where he pledged US backing for the former Soviet states. "This chain of aggressive moves and diplomatic reversals has only intensified the concern that many have about Russia's larger objectives," he said.
