Paris - Three days before an emergency EU summit in Brussels, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Thursday said some European nations were considering imposing sanctions against Russia as a result of its actions in Georgia. However, he later denied some press reports suggesting that he was in favour of sanctions against Moscow because of the crisis in the Caucasus.
Addressing journalists early Thursday, Kouchner said "sanctions were being considered, as well as other means" to address the issue, but he did not specify.
"I, myself, would not anticipate sanctions (being imposed) while the meeting has not yet taken place," said Kouchner. France is currently president of the Union and has been at the forefront of the EU's attempts to resolve the crisis.
It was the first time France had brought up the possibility of sanctions against Moscow.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed such action, saying Kouchner "says a lot of things."
He noted the French minister had also expressed fear that Russia could move its military into Moldova and the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine, news agency Interfax reported.
"To me, this outpouring demonstrates utter confusion," Lavrov told journalists on the sidelines of a summit of Asian states in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe.
Russia was gunning for support from China and four Central Asian states that are fellow members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the summit Wednesday as the Western leaders debated measures to punish Moscow for its actions in Georgia.
However, a spokeswoman at the French Foreign Ministry told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
