Georgia - South Ossetia War Blog

The South Ossetian War: One year later

2009-08-06T13:20:00.002+04:00

A year ago this week, Georgia attacked Russia. It was like Jamaica attacking the United States. It was such a foolish and foredoomed act that at first most people believed the Georgian propaganda blaming it all on the Russians. Surely Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili wouldn't do something so utterly stupid. But he did - and he lost, of course.

There are two hang-overs from the week-long war that still have not cleared up, however. One is the lingering impression in the West, left over from the way that Western media reported the conflict at the time, that the "Russian bear" has turned nasty and expansionist. The other is a promise to Georgia that should never have been made.

In the year since the war, it has become clear that the Georgian attack, which sought to regain control of the breakaway territory of South Ossetia, was planned well in advance. The Russians only responded after their peacekeeping troops in South Ossetia came under Georgian attack, but the Georgians won the propaganda battle.

Saakashvili painted the Russians as evil aggressors, relying on Cold War stereotypes: "Russia's war on Georgia echoes events in Finland in 1939, Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968," he told the Washington Post in August, 2008. It fitted Western preconceptions, so the media went along with it.

So did U.S. presidential candidate John McCain, condemning Russia's "violent aggression" and claiming that "Russian actions, in clear violation of international law, have no place in 21 century Europe." Barack Obama was more circumspect, but in the midst of an election campaign he chose not to expose his flank to the Cold Warriors of the Republican Party by openly challenging their version of events.

The other problem, from a European perspective, was U.S. President George W. Bush's push to get Georgia and another former Soviet republic, Ukraine, admitted to the NATO alliance. These countries are to the south of Russia, not between it and Western Europe, and bringing them into the Western alliance would alarm and alienate the Russians. Yet there is no practical way that NATO could defend them if they got into a fight with the Russians.

Indeed, this concern may have been the main motive behind the creation of a European Union commission to investigate the origins of the war. The commission is led by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, who has served in the area as an observer, and it has been gathering evidence for almost a year now. If its conclusions blame the war on Georgia, as seems likely, they will not be unwelcome in Brussels.

Some of those conclusions were leaked last spring to the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, and they support the contention that Georgia deliberately concentrated its troops and launched a surprise attack on South Ossetia, with the aim of seizing control of the province before Russia could respond.

Between 16,000 and 20,000 Georgian troops, all equipped with modern U.S. weapons, attacked the South Ossetian militia and about 1,000 Russian peacekeeping troops who were stationed there on the night of 7 August. Even the Georgian "peacekeeping" battalion that was also stationed in the province took part in the attack. The local capital, Tskhinvali, fell into Georgian hands within hours, and dozens of Russian troops were killed or injured.

Moscow responded quickly, and a large Russian force, including heavy armour, was sent south from the Russian province of North Ossetia through the tunnel under the main Caucasus range (which the Georgians had failed to secure) on Aug. 8. In one more day Georgian troops had been driven out of South Ossetia, and the Russians even followed them some distance into Georgia proper before withdrawing again at the end of the month.

Erosi Kitsmarishvili, Georgia's former ambassador to Moscow and a former confidant of Saakashvili's, testified to the Georgian parliament last November that Georgian officials told him in April 2008 that they planned to start a war to recover Abkhazia, one of Georgia's two breakaway regions, and had received a green light from the United States government to do so. He said the Georgian government later decided to start the war in South Ossetia, the other region, and continue into Abkhazia.

Both the evidence of observers on the ground and the testimony of disillusioned Georgian officials like Kitsmarishvili are driving the EU commission toward the conclusion that Russia merely responded to the Georgian aggression. It will be helpful to have an authoritative Western body acknowledge that Russia has not undergone some fundamental change of strategy.
The EU commission, whose report has been postponed until next month, will not formally recommend against Georgia joining NATO, but the implication there will also be clear. Nobody really believed that NATO would ever fight World War Three to save Georgia, even it were the innocent victim of Russian aggression, but by attacking Russia Saakashvili got everybody off the hook.

Retired British army colonel Christopher Langton, senior fellow for conflict and defence diplomacy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, summed it up only weeks after the war. "Georgia's dream is shattered, but the country can only blame itself for that."

By Gwynne Dyer, TheRecord.com

Georgia, Russia put off S. Ossetia talks

2009-05-08T11:56:00.001+04:00

A second round of security talks between Georgia, Russia and the rebel Georgian region of South Ossetia has been postponed amid rising Moscow-Tbilisi tensions, officials said on Thursday.

The discussions, aimed at reducing the risk of violence in the area around South Ossetia, were due to take place on Thursday in line with an agreement reached in April during a first meeting. "It has been postponed because we could not agree on a suitable location," a spokesman for European Union ceasefire monitors in Georgia, Steve Bird, told AFP. "We tried a number of different locations but they weren't acceptable," he said.

Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili blamed Russia and South Ossetia for the cancellation. He said that after initially agreeing to hold the meeting further inside Georgian-controlled territory, the Russians and South Ossetians said late on Wednesday that was no longer acceptable.

"We regret their refusal to participate," he said. But an official with Russian military forces in South Ossetia blamed Georgia, saying the meeting "has been indefinitely postponed due to the unconstructive position of the Georgian side".

He told the Itar-Tass news agency that Georgia had initially agreed the meeting could be held in the same location as the first round of talks, the border village of Ergneti, but later insisted on other locations. Sporadic violence has continued around South Ossetia since an EU-brokered ceasefire was signed in August, ending a brief conflict over the rebel region. Tensions between Georgia and Russia have remained high since the war. Moscow has been fiercely critical of Nato military exercises that began in Georgia on Wednesday. A new round of talks aimed at preventing another war is to take place in Geneva on May 18-19.

asianage.com

Georgia row escalating

2009-05-08T11:42:00.001+04:00

The reset button in Russia-NATO relations appears to have well and truly jammed after Moscow and the Brussels-based military alliance both threw out diplomats in a messy spy scandal. Unraveling against the backdrop of this latest row is a curious mutiny by a Georgian battalion slated to take part in joint NATO exercises in the Caucasus country, which Moscow has vigorously opposed.

While the Georgian government has accused Russia of trying an attempted coup, the Georgian opposition insists that it was President Mikhail Saakashvili who staged a theatrical show so he could blame Russia and brag before his NATO allies. Russia, meanwhile, is claiming that NATO is just trying to provoke a White House bent on restoring positive relations.

All this has cast a heavy shadow over Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Washington this week, where he is expected to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"I am certain that a pro-war faction has formed within NATO," Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's envoy to NATO, said by telephone from Brussels when asked about the expulsion of two Russian diplomats this week. "There are people in NATO whose teeth are set on edge by all those peaceful statements by Barack Obama. And they are going to get in the way of normal, improving relations between Russia and NATO. For them, it is important to present Russia as an enemy. This creates a basis for their reactionary plans to develop NATO based on the old, Cold War scenario. This is a provocation, a conspiracy against Obama."

Rogozin said he drew these conclusions from the way the decision to expel the diplomats was revealed. "I was told of this decision only after a session of the Russia-NATO Council had ended, giving me no chance to react. A considerable number of ambassadors from NATO countries called me the other day to express their anger at this decision, they too had not been informed beforehand."

Asked how exactly these hawkish elements hoped to provoke the U.S. administration, he explained: "They are certain that we will react adequately, symmetrically. All those plans that we had agreed on, had shaken hands on, they are all being suspended indefinitely."

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has already canceled a NATO meeting scheduled for May 19 as a protest against the NATO exercises, while Rogozin said this was also a response to the diplomatic expulsions.

An EU-brokered meeting between Georgia, South Ossetia and Russia that was scheduled for Thursday was cancelled, although officials did not attribute it directly to the diplomatic row. Meanwhile, Russian allies in the CIS, Armenia and Kazakhstan, have pulled out of the joint exercises after President Dmitry Medvedev said it was unwise to hold them so soon after August's military conflict in Georgia over the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

NATO has pressed on with the exercises, which started on Wednesday and will run through until June 1.

On Tuesday, the Mukhrovani armored tank battalion near Tbilisi refused orders to take part in the exercises and called for dialogue between the government and the opposition, which has been rallying in the capital for weeks for Saakashvili's resignation. Georgia's Defence Ministry that day claimed it had not only suppressed an armed coup, but also infiltrated a plot to assassinate Saakashvili.

The Georgian opposition claims that the government's exaggerated response was staged by Saakashvili. "There was no mutiny, it was all staged to distract attention away from the real problems and blame it on Russia," said Bidzina Gudjabidze, a member of parliament for the opposition Conservative Party.

His party is campaigning for Saakashvili's resignation, but has strongly condemned Russia's military action in South Ossetia and its recognition of the republic's independence. Moscow-based military analysts said that NATO's insistence on holding the exercises is puzzling, given their relatively low military significance.

"These are General Staff exercises held in headquarters, not on the field," said Ivan Safranchuk, a defence analyst. "The level of these games has declined. NATO is in a delicate situation regarding Saakashvili. On the one hand, they find him a liability. But they keep up the obligations."

Rogozin said that NATO officials had explained the necessity of the exercises to him by saying that the organisation "had to save face."

"We had warned the alliance through diplomatic channels that it is quite possible during the exercises that Saakashvili will stage some sort of provocation against foreign military personnel," he said.

"I don't think the mutiny was entirely a spectacle, there could have been some genuine dissent," says Alexander Tchatchia, a Tbilisi-based political analyst at the Institute for Globalisation Problems. "But I do think the mutiny was deliberately provoked. It plays into the hands of Saakashvili and NATO" because it shows genuine decent and pluralism on the one hand, and the president's ability to peacefully deal with it on the other.

On the Russian side, officials were "deliberately overreacting to underscore our vigilance over Saakashvili," said Safranchuk.

mnweekly.ru

Russian-Georgian talks on South Ossetia postponed indefinitely

2009-05-07T12:56:00.000+04:00

A scheduled meeting between Russia, the European Union, Georgia and its breakaway region of South Ossetia will not take place because of Georgia's rigid position, a spokesman for Russia's Defense Ministry has said.

"The four-party talks on averting an incident in the border zone scheduled for today has been postponed indefinitely because of Georgia's non-constructive position," commander of the Russian military base in South Ossetia told Itar Tass news agency on Thursday.

Georgia met officials from the region for the first time in the conflict zone on April 23 at talks facilitated by the EU and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"Contrary to the agreement reached earlier, Georgia refused to host the meeting in the Ergneti settlement not far from South Ossetia border, and offered to hold it in the town of Gori, further away from the borderline. South Ossetia rejected the offer," the spokesman said.

mosnews.com

2nd Caucasus normalisation talks disrupted by Georgia

2009-05-07T12:55:00.001+04:00

Another, second meeting of officials of Russia, South Ossetia, Georgia and the European Union on the normalisation of the situation in Georgia's border region with South Ossetia has been disrupted through Georgia's fault, a representative of the command of the Russian military base in South Ossetia told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

"The planned for today second four-sided meeting on matters of preventing incidents in the border zone has been indefinitely postponed due to unconstructive position of the Georgian sided," he said.

"The Georgian side, contrary to the earlier reached agreement, refused to hold this meeting in its territory in the Ergneti village near the border with South Ossetia, but proposed to hold it in the city of Gori located far from the border. This proposal for a number of reasons, including security considerations, was not satisfactory to the South Ossetian side that refused to go to Gori," the Russian military base official explained.

"Thus the second four-sided meeting on the normalisation of the situation in the Caucasus has been indefinitely postponed through the Georgian side's fault," he said.

itar-tass.com

Fewer in Georgia Want to Join NATO

2009-05-06T12:27:00.003+04:00

Fewer people in Georgia-yet still a majority-are expressing support for their country to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), according to a poll by the Institute of Polling and Marketing, Baltic Surveys/Gallup, and the International Republican Institute. 63 per cent of respondents back NATO accession, down 24 points since September.

NATO was originally formed in 1949 as an agreement of collaboration designed to prevent a possible attack from the Soviet Union on North America or Western Europe during the Cold War. In March 2004, NATO added seven more nations, six of which were once members of the Warsaw Pact-a military alliance of Eastern European Soviet countries.

According to international regulations, South Ossetia and Abkhazia belong to Georgia-a former Soviet republic. In the early 1990s, both pro-Russian regions became de facto independent but failed to be fully recognized as sovereign nations. Separatist factions operate in both regions.
In August 2008, a military conflict broke out between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where many Russian citizens live. On Aug. 8, Georgian forces entered South Ossetia to assert sovereignty over the region, and Russia responded with a full military operation that saw Russian soldiers take control of Georgian territory beyond South Ossetia. A ceasefire was later brokered by the European Union (EU). On Aug. 26, the Russian government officially recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Georgia is currently led by pro-Western politicians. Last year, it was promised access to NATO.
On May 3, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev accused NATO of "muscle-flexing" as it was confirmed that close to 1,000 NATO soldiers will conduct military exercises at a Georgian army base east of Tbilisi this month.

Polling Data

Do you support Georgia joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)?

Feb. 2009 Sept. 2008

Support 63% 87%

Oppose 17% 8%

Not sure 11% 6%

angus-reid.com

Nato to begin Georgia exercises

2009-05-06T12:18:00.001+04:00

Nato is to start a series of military exercises in Georgia, a day after the government thwarted an attempt by its own soldiers to stage a mutiny.

Soldiers from 18 countries are taking part in the drills at a Georgian army base close to the capital, Tbilisi.
But Russia has said the exercises amount to a provocation.
They come just nine months after Russia's short war with Georgia and are taking place close to areas where Russian troops are stationed.

More than 1,000 soldiers will take part in the exercises over a period of more than three weeks.
For Georgia, which has been promised eventual Nato membership, they are a sign that, despite doubts over its candidate status after last year's war with Russia, it has not been forgotten.
Russia views the exercises as a provocation and has turned down an invitation to send observers.

In recent days its security forces have officially begun patrolling the border between South Ossetia, the epicentre of last summer's conflict, and Georgia. The Georgian government has repeatedly said Russia's actions are to blame for raising tension in the region.

It also accuses Moscow of backing the mutiny at an army base on Tuesday and supporting an alleged coup plot. Russia has denied the allegations.

The Georgian government is hopeful that the Nato exercises will give it a chance to prove to its Western allies that it can host an important international event without further disturbances.

BBC

Russia's Lavrov visits U.S. to prepare for Obama-Medvedev summit

2009-05-06T12:14:00.000+04:00

Russia's foreign minister embarks on a U.S. visit on Wednesday to prepare for a bilateral summit due in July as part of the two countries' pledges to rebuild ties.

Sergei Lavrov will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on Thursday, their second meeting since they symbolically pressed a "reset" button in Geneva in March to improve relations that plunged to a Cold War low under the George Bush administration.
In Washington, Lavrov will also meet with senior members of Congress and deliver a speech on Russia-U.S. relations at the Carnegie Center, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko.

"We expect substantial discussions at meetings with the leadership of the State Department, Congress and the expert community on current Russian-American relations and the problems that await resolution to ensure their sustainable development," Nesterenko said last week.

Arms control will dominate Lavrov's visit to the United States, as the two countries have pledged to draft a new arms reduction treaty to replace the Cold War-era START 1 treaty that expires in December.

The first round of "full-format" talks on the new treaty are due to take place in Moscow on May 18, with the aim of providing an outline for the pact before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama meet in July.

Lavrov's visit could be overshadowed, however, by fresh tensions in Georgia. The former Soviet republic on Tuesday accused Russia of orchestrating a failed revolt at a military base. Moscow dismissed the charges as "insane."

Russia's war with Georgia over pro-Russian South Ossetia last August and the subsequent recognition of the breakaway region by Moscow fueled tensions with the United States and other Western powers.

Moscow's relations with NATO were also strained over the expulsion last week of two Russian diplomats by the alliance. Lavrov in response said he would not attend a NATO-Russia Council meeting later this month. The move came after Moscow and the alliance resolved to resume ties suspended following the war with Georgia.

On Monday, Lavrov will preside over a UN Security Council session on Middle East conflicts. Russia is the council president in May.

rian.ru

Russia retaliates against Nato over spies and Georgia

2009-05-06T12:12:00.000+04:00

Russia-Nato relations hit a new low on Tuesday over a spy row and military exercises due to kick off in Georgia, as Tbilisi accused Moscow of staging a military coup at one of its bases.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov cancelled his planned meeting of the Nato-Russia Council on 18 May and the government expelled two Canadian diplomats working at the north Atlantic alliance's information bureau in Moscow.

The move came as tit-for-tat to Nato's expulsion of two Brussels-based Russian diplomats accused of spying. One of the two men, administration director Vasily Chizhov, is also the son of Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov.

Russia had already pulled out of a planned meeting among senior military staff on 7 May in protest at the military exercises due to start today in Georgia.

Moscow has called the simulations "muscle flexing" and insisted that Nato to cancel them, saying they were taking place "where there was recently a war", alluding to the Russian invasion of Georgia after Tbilisi launched an attack against separatist forces in South Ossetia.

In a parallel development, the Georgian government on Tuesday stopped an attempted army mutiny that they say was staged by Russia and designed to disrupt the Nato exercises. A former Georgian special forces commander and a tank battalion commander were arrested.

President Mikhail Saakashvili called on Russia to stop its "provocative maneuvers" in Georgia.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said that initial evidence and secret recordings show that the mutineers had Russian backing. The investigation was ongoing, he added.

Moscow denied involvement in the events and dismissed the accusations as "ridiculous."
The US reacted cautiously, calling the foiled mutiny plot an "isolated incident" that the Pentagon was still assessing.

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman avoided the question of Russian involvement and stressed that the incident would not change "our long-term relationship with Georgia."
Meanwhile, in Prague, the EU is set to launch its Eastern Partnership - a new neighbourhood policy towards Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Belarus, where president Saakashvili is also due to attend.

The embattled Georgian president has been facing opposition street protests since 9 April calling for his resignation over the failed August war and lack of democratic reforms.
Georgia is of key importance to Europe, as it is a major transit route for oil and gas pipelines coming from the Caspian Sea and bypassing Russia.

An EU energy summit dedicated to this route dubbed the "Southern Corridor" is also due to take place in Prague on Friday.

euobsever.com

Fresh front threatens Saakashvili

2009-05-06T12:04:00.002+04:00

Yesterday's drama in Georgia is a reminder that the struggle for power and influence in Georgia could derail relations between Russia and Nato, and raises questions over European hopes that the region will become a secure energy supply route.
Georgia hosts strategic transit pipelines carrying Caspian oil and natural gas exports to the west. It is crucial to energy security in Europe, which is trying to reduce its dependence on Russian supplies.

The apparent mutiny, described at one stage by Georgia as an attempted coup, underlines the precarious position of Mikheil Saakashvili, the western-backed president, who many analysts say is unlikely to see out his four-year term.

His credibility was dented beyond repair by last August's disastrous war with Russia, which he was accused of starting and which resulted in the loss of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Street protests against the president's rule have become a regular fixture since early April, and while yesterday's mutiny was shortlived it demonstrated how opposition to Mr Saakashvili may be spreading throughout the establishment.

Georgian officials said the Russian secret services were behind the plot, which was timed to coincide with the start of Nato military exercises in the country.

Moscow's interest in seeing Mr Saakashvili leave power is clear, though Russian officials rushed yesterday to deny Georgian claims that the Kremlin financed the "coup" attempt.

Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's Nato envoy, said the alliance's refusal to cancel the military exercises would "further provoke Georgia's downfall and could possibly destabilise the situation in neighbouring regions".

Andrei Klimov, deputy chairman of the committee for international relations in the state Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, called yesterday's events a "show" made for western consumption, which would help Mr Saakashvili distract Georgians from opposition demonstrations that have become a regular fixture in the capital. "This is one of Saakashvili's tricks. He is a master of such shows," he said.

Alexander Rondeli, the head of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies in Tbilisi, said the government needed to show evidence supporting its accusations against Russia and the alleged coup's ringleaders. But it was possible that the drama was at least partly inspired from Moscow, he added. "Russia is not just sitting on its hands and watching our country."

The situation in Georgia has put the administration of Barack Obama, US president, in a difficult position. Washington's support for Mr Saakashvili is a sticking point in an otherwise improving relationship with Moscow, underlined by a cordial meeting between Mr Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, in London in April.

The Obama administration insists it wants to "press the reset button" with Moscow. But relations were strained again last week when Moscow signed an agreement that, in effect, took control of the borders of Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, a move that the US said was "another step in the wrong direction".

The military exercises due to take place in Georgia this week by countries involved in Nato's partnership for peace have also irked Russia, which sees them as a provocative action in a country it regards as under its sphere of influence.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, yesterday pulled out of a meeting of the Nato-Russia council. He had been due to attend a meeting of foreign ministers on May 18, intended to cement improved relations between Russia and Nato.

The meeting would have looked at a range of security issues, including co-operation between Russia and Nato on Afghanistan and joint attempts to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia. Moscow told Nato diplomats Mr Lavrov's decision was a response to the defence alliance's move to expel two Russian diplomats in the aftermath of a spying scandal, as well as Nato's intention to hold military exercises in Georgia.

Mr Obama has little room for diplomatic manoeuvre. His overtures to Russia, along with other traditional enemies of the US, have attracted the ire of the US rightwing. Delaying the Georgia war games would be viewed as a concession to Russia, and might cost Mr Obama politically at home, a Washington-based analyst said. The US department of defence said the mutiny appeared to be an isolated incident but added it was monitoring the situation. "It doesn't change our long-term relationship with Georgia," the Pentagon said.

ft.com

Georgia to host rival contest after Eurovision ban on Putin song

2009-05-05T13:14:00.001+04:00

Banned from the Eurovision Song Contest for an anthem that mocked Russia's Prime Minister, the Georgians have hit back by organising a song festival of their own.

The organisers of Alter/Vision have invited pop groups from all over Europe to participate in their rival event, which will take place at the same time as the Eurovision final in Moscow on May 16. It is an impertinent response to the ruling that the original Eurovision entry, a disco song performed by Stephane and 3G entitled We Don't Wanna Put In - a play on the name of Vladimir Putin - was too political.

The entry was seen as a protest over the war in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia last August. The European Broadcasting Union banned the song after deciding that it broke competition rules against political statements.

Georgian Public Television, which held the national contest, was asked to revise the lyrics or submit an alternative. Instead, it withdrew from Eurovision, complaining that organisers had bowed to "unacceptable" pressure from Russia, which is hosting the contest for the first time.
The Georgian Ministry of Culture is backing the alternative festival, to be held in the capital, Tbilisi, from May 15-17. Organisers said that it would feature 20 acts from nine countries, including Britain, France, Germany and Russia, but that there would be no voting to choose a winner.

"It's our moral support to the people who were supposed to sing at Eurovision but won't be there," a spokesman, Irakli Matkava, said. "We want to express true European values of freedom and fun. Eurovision is about bureaucratic control and censorship. It's more about a country's prestige than music."

The Russian hosts of this year's 54th Eurovision final are unlikely to lose sleep over this display of rivalry from Tbilisi. They would have been far more worried about the prospect of Mr Putin, who is not known for laughing off criticism, being mocked on live television in front of 100 million viewers across Europe.

Even so, Russia's own entry has been mired in controversy after a Ukrainian singer was chosen to represent the country soon after the "gas war" between the two former Soviet neighbours. Anastasia Prikhodko had already been rejected in Ukraine and her victory in Moscow sparked allegations of vote rigging from a losing finalist.

Contestants have begun to arrive in Moscow for rehearsals at the giant Olympiyski Arena before two semi-finals on May 12 and 14 to whittle down the 42 participating nations to 25 for the final.
Dmitri Shepelev, a journalist with the state-controlled Channel One television, will be the host. "The only thing I don't want is political questions. I'd like this contest to be focused on unity," he said yesterday.

timesonline.co.uk

RF, S Ossetia, Georgia, EU to meet for second time on May 7

2009-05-05T13:07:00.001+04:00

Representatives of Russia, South Ossetia, Georgia and the EU will meet for the second time after the events in the Caucasus last August on May 7.

They will meet on the Georgian territory to discuss normalization of the situation in the border district of Georgia with South Ossetia, the first deputy head of the Land Troops' main headquarters, Lieut. Gen. Sergei Antonov told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

"We've already received the relevant notification from the head of the EU observer mission in Georgia, Hans Jorg Haber, on the readiness for this meeting," he said.

"Russia's representatives who will directly resolve all issues emerging in the border district of Georgia with South Ossetia will take part. Among them will be representatives of the Russian military contingent in South Ossetia," he said.

Antonov represented Russia at the first four-party meeting in Georgia' s village of Ergneti on April 23.

itar-tass.com

S Ossetian Supreme Court chairman dies in road accident

2009-05-04T13:12:00.001+04:00

South Ossetian Supreme Court Chairman Atsamaz Gabulov has died in a road accident.
The accident occurred on Friday evening on the Tskhinval-Znaur highway, the Prosecutor General's Office said.

"As a result of a technical failure, the Volkswagen Golf car lost control, drove off the road, overturned and hit a tree," the Prosecutor General's Office said.

Gabulov "died at the scene from the bodily harm", it said.

itar-tass.com

Russian Troops Guard Rebel Regions

2009-05-04T13:07:00.001+04:00

Russian border guards have begun defending the de facto borders between Georgia and its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The deployment, announced Saturday, quickly followed the signing of a deal that formalized Russia's control over the borders of the regions at the center of last summer's brief war with Georgia.

The border guards department for southern Russia said its troops took full responsibility for guarding the borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on Thursday, the same day that the leaders of both regions signed an agreement with President Dmitry Medvedev giving Russia control over the borders. The first border guards arrived in South Ossetia on Thursday, it said.
"The border must be securely closed and made inaccessible for enemies," said Nikolai Lisinsky, who heads the border guards department in southern Russia, Interfax reported.

He said video surveillance and unmanned aircraft would be used to patrol the border, but no barbed-wire fences would be put up and South Ossetia would remain accessible "for those who seek peace with us."

In Abkhazia, the region's border service said Russian border guards were deployed together with Abkhaz troops along the land borders. Abkhaz troops continued to guard the Black Sea coast, although Russian naval vessels were deployed off shore, the service said.
Russia has announced plans to start building a naval base in Abkhazia.

In signing Thursday's deal with Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh and South Ossetia leader Eduard Kokoity, Medvedev indicated that Russia's intention was to strengthen its position that the cease-fire that ended last summer's war had been superceded by subsequent agreements with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. "This, without any doubt, is a political act," Medvedev said at a Kremlin ceremony. "These documents develop the agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance that were signed some time ago in this hall."

themoscowtimes.com

Kosachev says Saakashvili a liar, Russia forced to intervene in Georgia

2009-05-04T12:59:00.001+04:00

Nine months after the start of last year's Russian-Georgia skirmish - which both sides said the other started - a tense peace is holding in the region, where Russian troops remain in the former Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which broke away after the conflict ended and were recognized by Russia. The fallout continues, however, as Russia and Georgia have had an on-again, offagain series of spats and war of words over the blame game.

In an interview with New Europe's television arm, NETV, on the sidelines of the European People's Party convention in Warsaw, Poland April 29-30, Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russia Duma, reiterated the Russian position that it was Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili who began the conflict by having Georgian troops move into South Ossetia last August, which the Russian lawmaker said forced Russia to deploy its own troops, and only after, he said, Saakashvili misinterpreted signs from the West, such as promises Georgia would get into NATO, and which led him not to talk with Russia over the provinces which had long sought to break away.

"As long as you do not communicate, as long as you try to use military force to solve these conflicts, you will come nowhere, and this is what Russia tries to prevent and this is why Russia was forced - I would like to stress it - was forced to intervene and was forced later on to recognise the independence of these two Republics for the simple reason they had no other alternative if you had to secure the lives of people living there, to bring security and peace to the region." He said Georgia tried to convince the United States and European Union that it was Russian aggression against a small country that was at play. "In case you do not look into details in the prehistory of a conflict, this one would definitely seem to you that a small but free and democratic Georgia fighting this large aggressive Russia, but this is very much simplified ... it's a conflict not between Georgia and Russia, it's a conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia and Abkhazia."

The conflict didn't last long. After five days of heavy fighting, the Georgian forces were ejected from South Ossetia and Abkhazia and Russian troops entered Georgia, occupying the cities of Poti and Gori among others. After mediation by the French presidency of the European Union, the parties reached a preliminary ceasefire agreement, but fighting did not stop immediately, but after Russia pulled most of its troops out of Georgia, buffer zones were established around Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Russia created check points in Georgia's interior before recognizing the former Georgian provinces, which Georgia considers Russian-occupied territories.

Asked whether Saakashvili inadvertently walked into a bear trap by misreading international signals he thought were equivalent to support, Kosachev said, "The major mistake Saakashvili made was to promised his people, his electorate, to solve the problems of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by the end of his second term. As soon as you give those kind of promises, you are trapped. You have no other options but to do something and that's what he was trying to do." Kosachev said it was critical to remember that Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February of 2008 and within two months was being recognized by some European countries, although Russia opposed it and still fiercely does.

"I believe, at that moment, Saakashvili interpreted that development in the wrong way, that the territorial integrity of states is no longer a holy cow in Europe, and (felt) ‘This is how I need to do something, I need to be quick, I need to be resolute, in order to keep the territorial integrity of Georgia while the territorial integrity of other countries like Serbia are being changed.'"

NATO'S FALSE LURE

Kosachev added that, "I believe it was an individual decision by Mr. Saakashvili, but I cannot deny that all these games that, let's say NATO played with Georgia, (promising) ‘We shall give you a membership, and membership is absolutely possible, and we will definitely support you in all your disagreements with Russia.'

That was also a very false wrong signal given and maybe misinterpreted by Mr. Saakashvili. But in any case it was the wrong attitude and it provoked this type of developments." Since then, some political analysts have said Russia's end game was to have the Americaneducated Saakashvili deposed by his own people, and the Georgian president indeed has been under immense pressure at home because of the disastrous consequences of the conflict, which razed Georgian communities, and which led to the deaths of hundreds of soldiers and civilians. Kosachev was coy in his answer, but led to the conclusion that, while it would not act directly, Russia would not be unhappy if Saakashivili were out of office, suggesting strongly that is the only way for relations between the countries to get better. He was harsh in his assessment of Saakashvili's behaviour, referring to him as "Mr." instead of President.

"Mr. Saakashvili has repeatedly promised us on different occasions, not to use military force, which he used in August last year, so Mr. Saakashvili personally does not have any confidence in Russia. We cannot communicate with a person who lies. This is what he has done and this is what he is still doing. I believe the position now inside of Georgia is much better than previously. What happens with Mr. Saakashvili is definitely a domestic affair for Georgia, and we will definitely not interfere, not at all. But I believe the chance for improving relations between Georgia and Russia will come sooner or later, but will come when we have some other leadership in Georgia."
Last year, Kosachev, in his position as Russia's representative to the Council of Europe, which is the main bastion of human rights for the EU, accused the Georgian president of violating the values of the council, ignoring human rights and the rule of law. Kosachev, a veteran diplomat who manages to mix strong suggestions with political boilerplate, said then what he reiterated to NETV, although he was more couched at the time, not long after the conflict, when tensions were running high and the EU was going to send monitors to the region. "Russia had no other choice but to act immediately, protecting people's lives, protecting peace in the region and enforcing peace," he told Russia Today. If anything, as he showed when he talked to New Europe, Kosachev has gotten tougher on Saakashvili.

neurope.eu

NATO, Russia resume formal political talks, differences remain

2009-04-30T13:07:00.000+04:00

NATO and Russia resumed formal political talks on Wednesday with a meeting of the ambassadors of the 28 allies and Russian envoy Dmitry Rogozin after a freeze for eight months. NATO said there were positive signs from the Russian side, particularly on the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. But Russia blasted the alliance for its planned military exercises in Georgia, which Russia briefly invaded in August 2008. The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) meeting at ambassadorial level was the first formal one since August 2008 when NATO angrily suspended all high-level political contacts with Russia following the Russia-Georgia military conflict in the Caucasus.

"The meeting opened with a shared view that the NATO-Russia Council meeting was a very welcome one, that the time has come to take the next step," said NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero. "There was positive expectation of the future work of the NATO-Russia Council."
She said the council discussed ways to "make the most of the NRC," without going into details. The parties also discussed the upcoming NRC at ministerial level, which will be held in the second half of May, she said. Romero said there are positive signs on compromise between NATO and Russia on the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. "Where there seems to be new energy is the CFE issue. There seems to be a positive spirit of compromise, including in the framework of the NRC," she said.

But Rogozin was more cautious. He told reporters after the meeting that serious discussions would be held elsewhere, most probably in Geneva, rather than in the NRC. "Let us just not run into that too early. We have not just yet started that discussion." Russia suspended its obligations under the CFE treaty in 2007, citing the fact that none of the NATO countries had ratified it. NATO has since tried to bring Moscow back to the treaty, which limits the quantity of tanks and other conventional weapons in Europe. NATO has said the CFE treaty was a corner stone for European security.

The council also touched upon Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's proposals for a new European security architecture. The majority of the countries in the NRC held that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would be the appropriate forum for discussion, although they did not rule out discussions within the NRC, said Romero.

Rogozin said, however, that this issue should also be discussed in the NRC because "the NRC is first of all concerned with hard security issues." Wednesday's NRC meeting comes at a time of uneasy relations between NATO and Russia over the alliance's military exercises in Georgia between May 6 and June 1.

Romero said the parties discussed the issue and that their positions did not change. Rogozin, however, lashed out at NATO, labelling the exercises as "totally out of place." He said he was not convinced by NATO allies' explanation that the exercises pose no threat to Russia's security.

"I insist that these exercises are totally out of place," he told reporters after the meeting. "Any muscle flexing along our borders is not acceptable at all." He noted that the exercises will be held against the background of parliamentary elections in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia, the first such poll after Russia's recognition of independence of the region. "I cannot name it other than political blackmailing."

Rogozin said Russia is also worried by statements from high-ranking U.S. officials that the NATO exercises are meant to support Georgia's territorial integrity. He blamed NATO for its "political blindness" that refuses to recognize Russia's national interests. "In a sense, NATO reminds me of a blind rhinoceros."

NATO has said the two series of exercises were planned in January 2008, long before the August 2008 Russia-Georgia military conflict over South Ossetia. But Rogozin argued on Wednesday that the fact that they were planned long ago does not mean that they could not be postponed or even cancelled altogether. He said the exercises would mean that NATO is ready to do business as usual with Georgia after the conflict, but at the same time is pursuing a policy of no business as usual with Russia, referring to the freeze of political contacts. "At least this was some sort of interruption that we couldn't get an answer to," said Rogozin.

NATO has said Russia, as a Program for Peace partner of the alliance, was actually invited to the exercises but Moscow turned down the invitation. NATO said it would welcome Russian observers to the games to clear up misunderstanding. But Moscow has rejected the offer. Russia also called off a meeting with NATO chiefs of defense scheduled for May 7. Before the NRC meeting on Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he was looking forward to the meeting. But that does not mean NATO and Russia would suddenly agree on everything.

"There are a number of issues where we should seriously work together. But we should not shy away from difficult issues where we fundamentally disagree," he told reporters after a meeting with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in the morning. "The NATO-Russia Council is not a fair weather body." De Hoop Scheffer said the two sides should work together in weapons non-proliferation, Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism. But they still have fundamental differences over issues such as the territorial integrity of Georgia and the CFE treaty.

xinhuanet.com

Abkhazia-Georgia border continues to be flashpoint of violence

2009-04-30T13:04:00.001+04:00

Russia has helped Georgia's former breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia make their borders more secure, but even with the new measures, people in the two regions say they still don't feel safe on home soil.

A checkpoint in the Abkhazian town of Gali on the border with Georgia came under fire several weeks ago. Abkhazian border patrolmen blame Georgian militants for the shelling. They say the group illegally crossed the border at night and launched a sneak attack.

"In the morning they walked around and found RPG shells at the bus stop nearby," recalls Radik Agrba, deputy commander at the ‘Ingur' checkpoint.

Abkhazia declared independence from mainland Georgia in the early nineties. For more than 15 years it remained a frozen conflict zone. In 2008, after Georgia launched a military campaign against Tskhinval, Russia recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, signing treaties on diplomatic and military cooperation.

Following separate terrorist attacks in the capital Sukhum last year, Abkhazian officials ordered the border with Georgia to be blocked, blaming Tbilisi for organizing them.

The situation at the checkpoint in Gali remains tense, but locals say it is possible to get into Georgia - but not for sight-seeing. Despite recent incidents the border remains open for those traveling for humanitarian reasons, such as family events and medical emergencies. Many locals have relatives abroad, so they have to cross this bridge every once in a while.

The Gali district is the only territory of Abkhazia where ethnic Georgians are a majority. Over 60,000 refugees returned to the region in recent years.

Local resident Avtandil Ezugbaya is the headmaster of the school in Gali. His wife Liya recently gave birth to their son Luca. The family hopes to share the good news with their relatives in mainland Georgia.

"After the war the ties were broken, but not all ties. He's still in touch with his relatives, but he wants to see them more often. Politics are politics, but he'd like to restore all human ties," says Avtandil Ezugbaya.

Officials in Gali say they would be glad to make the border more open for civilians and harder for criminals to cross, but it cannot be done without Russia's help. A deal to allow both sides to modernise their checkpoints is a long-awaited agreement, says Ruslan Kishmaria, a presidential envoy to the Gali district.

"There were attacks every day and the district needed this treaty like air and water. And they've been waiting for the treaty for a very long time," says Ruslan Kishmaria.
It is expected that Russia will provide training for Abkhazian officers and the latest technology for the checkpoints. And that in turn, may help minimize the terrorist threat, making life in Gali safer and more peaceful.

Russia Today

Russia to help SOssetia, Abkhazia protect borders

2009-04-30T13:00:00.000+04:00

Russia will help South Ossetia and Abkhazia to protect their borders against a feared new Georgian attack that Tbilisi may be heartened to launch after a NATO exercise next month.

On Thursday Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his counterparts from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Eduard Kokoity and Sergei Bagapsh, will sign an agreement on joint efforts to protect state borders. Additional agreements will be signed by the security services of the three countries.

Russia recognized independence of the two former Georgian provinces following the Georgian aggression against South Ossetia in August.

"Due to the remaining revanchist intentions of Tbilisi and its course towards remilitarization, as well as aggressive and provocative conduct on the borders with South Ossetia and Abkhazia the holding in Georgia of a NATO exercise on May 6 - June 1 -- no matter what they say about its planned and routine character - cannot be assessed other than moral encouragement of the recent aggressor and a provocative gesture against Russia," a Kremlin official said.

The agreements envisage that Russia will provide assistance to South Ossetia and Abkhazia in training border guards and developing national border services.

"The agreements become specifically vital in the context of the situation that emerged in TransCaucasia today. It is unstable and explosive," the Kremlin official said and explained that Georgian army with heavy hardware and police forces are concentrating close to the borders of the two republics.

Russia estimates some 2.5 Georgian men are staying close to the borders where they erected 50 stationary and mobile posts. "Artillery and armor are being moved to the border areas with South Ossetia," the official said adding the number of provocations has been on the rise of late.
He also said resolute ongoing calls of the Georgian opposition for the resignation of President Mikhail Saakashvili intensified political struggle in Georgia, which is "fraught with any possible provocations of the Saakashvili regime".

The official said the three presidents will also discuss Russian economic assistance to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In 2009 the Russian government plans to earmark to South Ossetia that was destroyed by massive Georgian shelling 8.5 billion rubles and additional three billion rubles from extra-budget funds.

Russia's Gazprom giant will complete in July the construction of a mountain gas pipeline that will pump fuel to South Ossetia directly from Russia bypassing Georgia that cut gas supplies to South Ossetia in winter. So far 30 out of 80 kilometers of the pipeline were built.

Russian companies plan to invest close to one billion rubles into Abkhazia and restore the highway linking Sukhum with Sochi, renovate a hospital in Sukhum and the New Afon Orthodox monastery, as well as energy utilities and residential quarters.

itar-tass.com

Georgia-Russia: 'dialogue is the only way forward'

2009-04-30T12:57:00.000+04:00

The Assembly reviewed the action taken by Georgia and Russia on Resolution 1647 (2009) adopted by the PACE in January 2009.

"The information report submitted by the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee (Luc Van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD) and Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE)) concluded that Georgia has not yet fully complied with all of the Assembly's demands. Russia, for its part, has failed to comply with most of the demands and might even be seen as moving further away from the minimum conditions for meaningful dialogue," PACE reported.

The report re-affirms that both countries must fully comply with the Assembly's demands set out in Resolutions 1633(2008) and 1647 (2009) ; in addition, it calls on both countries to implement without delay a series of steps to avoid a deterioration of the security situation and stability of the region, as well as to ensure that the minimum conditions for a meaningful dialogue between Russia and Georgia are met. The rapporteurs "continue to be convinced that the establishment of a genuine dialogue is the only way forward for the resolution of this conflict and the long-term stability in the region".

finchannel.com

Konstantin Kosachev: "PACE makes errors in South Caucasus"

2009-04-30T12:53:00.001+04:00

Chairman of the State Duma committee on international affairs Konstantin Kosachev said on Wednesday PACE insistence to politicize the situation related to South Ossetia and Georgia in its resolution on humanitarian issues was erroneous.

He also told Vesti TV channel PACE is taking no concrete action and is only observing the situation.

"There is no talk about the provision of any funds, about any projects, they simply state that the situation is difficult and we naturally agree with such an assessment," he said.

He welcomed PACE calls on conflicting parties to refrain from mounting tensions and resolve the problems of those people who have not yet returned to normal life.

"At the same time the Assembly continues to make mistakes," he said, adding "several political, politicized amendments were introduced in today' s resolution on humanitarian aspects of the situation."

Kosachev said PACE continues to call the border of Russia-recognized South Ossetia with Georgia as the administrative border like it was when Georgia and South Ossetia were in one state.

"Many believe that any other definition would mean an indirect recognition of the independence of South Ossetia, However, when they say ‘administrative border', there is a feeling that border may be anytime crossed by the Georgian armed or police forces," Kosachev said.

"As a result, the meaning of a border as a factor of protection of the people living in the zone of tensions weakens considerably. Alas, they do not understand it here and thus, directly or indirectly, promote deterioration and degradation of existing problems, rather than their solution," he added.

Earlier Kosachev told Tass PACE decision to discuss humanitarian rather than political issues of the conflict reflected a certain change in the position of the Assembly compared to the radical stance at the winter session.

"The most important thing today is to help people in the zone of conflict, protect their interests and security," he said and expressed hope that "sooner or later mutually acceptable definitions will be reached."

Kosachev recalled that Georgia and South Ossetia are holding consultations in Geneva promoted by the European Union and OSCE.

"The Council of Europe stays away from the process. That is a direct result of the mistakes, which the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe made in assessing the conflict in South Caucasus and its consequences," he said.

itar-tass.com

Chechens living in Georgia request refugee status to return home

2009-04-29T13:11:00.000+04:00

About 90 Chechens living in Georgia have requested refugee status since January to allow them to return to Chechnya, the head of the Russian republic's migration department said Tuesday.

"Our department has received about 90 applications from Georgian residents requesting visas and other documentation to return to Russia. These are mainly ethnic Chechens living in Georgia," Asu Dadurkayev said.

Dadurkayev cited the recent South Ossetia conflict as a reason for the increase in applications.
Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war in August 2008 after Tbilisi launched an offensive on its former republic of South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control.
"The applications are currently being considered in line with a federal refugee law and procedures," he said.

Dadurkayev said that over 3,000 people had returned to Chechnya from the neighboring North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia since the year start, adding that a total of 350,000 people had returned home since 1999 out of more than 500,000 that fled in the 1990s.
Last week saw a surge in attacks on Russian troops in Chechnya just two days after the Kremlin announced that its 10-year counter-terrorism operation in the troubled region had formally ended.

The attacks prompted Russia's Interior Ministry to announce on Friday that it was reintroducing anti-terrorism operations in three districts in southern Chechnya.

Russian federal troops launched the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya in the fall of 1999 after a group of militants led by Shamil Basayev and Arab mercenary Khattab invaded neighboring Daghestan. Moscow conducted a separate campaign in Chechnya in 1994-1996.

rian.ru

Russia asks Georgia to return deserter

2009-04-29T13:09:00.000+04:00

Russia's General Prosecutor Office has requested Georgia to extradite a Russian sergeant accused of desertion, RIA Novosti reports. Sgt Alexander Glukhov abandoned his military unit and crossed the Georgian border in January.

"We have information that Sgt Glukhov is on Georgian territory now. Therefore, the General Prosecutor Office decided to direct the request to Georgia's Main Prosecutor Office to extradite Sgt Glukhov for the purpose of bringing him to trial," spokesperson for the Russian office Marina Gridneva said on Tuesday.

Sergeant Alexander Glukhov disappeared in January from his unit in South Ossetia and asked for asylum in Georgia. Georgia and Russia fought a war last August over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, breakaway pro-Russian provinces of Georgia. Tbilisi's forces tried to retake it, unleashing a massive counter-attack by Russian troops.

mosnews.com

No justice in cellblock Georgia

2009-04-29T12:50:00.002+04:00

Stepping outside of the Marriott Hotel in Tbilisi late at night on April 21, we encountered a 24-hour occupation of Rustaveli Avenue in front of the Georgian parliament building, reportedly four days old.

The street is occupied by at least 125 metal-framed boxes, dimensions approximately 6 feet wide by 6 feet high by 4 feet deep. Each box is covered with a plastic banner fabric labeled in large red English letters, "CELL," and a unique identifying number. Each cell is occupied by one or more people gathered together on wooden pallets, where they may spend the night.

Occupation of the public square is the latest attempt by citizenry opposed to the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been in power since January 25, 2004, and who won re-election in November 2008. Opposition meetings started last November in the wake of the devastating Russian invasion of Georgia last August.

The war was triggered when Saakashvili ordered a military attack on breakaway province of South Ossetia, populated by an ethnic minority that has had the support of Moscow since Georgia gained its independence with the collapse of the USSR in 1991. So when Georgian troops attacked South Ossetia, Russia seized the opportunity to reassert its imperial power and punish the U.S.-backed Saakashvili, who seeks to have Georgia join the NATO alliance.

Months before the Russian invasion, Saakashvili had undermined his support by using authoritarian tactics against his former allies, including police violence and a state crackdown on independent media. Since the war, the opposition has only grown.

Today, the spirit of the mixed-age crowd occupying Rustaveli Avenue is friendly, festive and peaceable, though people are eager for events to unfold. We interviewed four English-speaking Georgians: Vakkho, age 17; George, age 17; Archil, age 18; and Zura, age 18.

"The cells indicate all of Georgia is in a cell," said Archil. "We are living in prisons. These people are here and don't need to live with injustice. It's a protest of the government, not our country." The young men agreed the protests will remain until Saakashvili resigns. They said protesters have been beaten by police at night, in and around the cell structures.

Local newspapers proclaim international support for Saakashvili as he faces protests at home. On April 17, Georgia Today quoted Saakashvili as saying: "Our foreign minister and the U.S. secretary of state are meeting each other for already second time in a month. The U.S. has such relations with only very few countries."

Saakashvili noted, however, that his close relations with the U.S. dated to the Bush administration. Indeed, Tbilisi has a "George Bush Street." As Saakashvili said to Georgia Today: "I admire American ideas. I used to idealize America under Bush when ideas were above pragmatic politics."

George said the protests are nationwide, not just in Tbilisi. "More cells are being brought in," he said. "There will be 500."

According to George and his friends, the cells were originally an idea from Georgian pop star Giorgi Gachechiladze, known as Utsnobi (meaning "unknown" or "stranger"), the brother of opposition leader and 2008 presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze.

Gachechiladze reportedly lived in one of the cells for several months as a protest of Saakashvili's government in 2007. He was one of four activists who began a hunger strike to demand early parliamentary elections. He was also injured during the protests.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Georgians seek to enjoy freedoms they know are available elsewhere in the world. "There is no justice," Archil said. "We want freedom of expression. People were beaten in the streets last night. We have two television stations that are government controlled."

A large banner on the protesters' main street stage features photos of five Georgians reportedly killed by security police during previous protests. As George said:

People can't speak or protest. People are beaten if they are not in groups. Many people--80 examples--were hurt in this week. They are beaten because they were sitting here, at night. The television did not show this. They (the reporters) were frightened. They can't report this because they are threatened.

The number of protesters in the street before parliament swelled at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, covering Rustaveli Avenue, as people gathered to hear speeches from the stage. As the speakers took their turns, men strung their cell frames with ropes to mimic prison cell bars.

Opinions about Saakashvili heightened when his government invaded South Ossetia in the summer of 2008, claiming it was a "breakaway province." Some speculated the Ossetia invasion was calculated to draw attention away from his sagging popular support.

In response to the Ossetia invasion, Russian troops entered Georgia (August 2008). Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze told the Georgian Times on 13 April, "If I were Saakashvili, I would have resigned. He has no right to be the president of the country after making so many mistakes and shedding so many tears and so much blood."

George, the young protest supporter, said, "The opposition's face is the people. We want free elections. We don't want one leader. We are the leaders. We must have leaders as they do in Europe, where the leaders are the people, who are not kings."

Archil agreed. "We want parliamentary governance, with elections that don't create monarchs or kings, but a full parliament."

socialistworker.org

NATO to resume formal contacts with Russia

2009-04-29T12:48:00.000+04:00

NATO and Russia are set to resume formal contacts following an eight-month freeze caused by last year's war between Russia and Georgia.

Diplomats say ambassadors from Russia and NATO's 28 member nations will discuss a possible meeting of foreign ministers next month. The talks are being held under the framework of the NATO-Russia Council, a panel set up to improve relations between the former Cold War foes.
Formal ties were suspended following the five-day Georgian war. NATO nations accused Moscow of using disproportionate force to eject Georgian forces that had occupied the capital of the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Still, relations have improved significantly since then. NATO and Russia have cooperated closely in areas such as the war in Afghanistan and anti-piracy patrols off Somalia.

pr-inside.com

Saakavili's "Order No. 2" Georgian Plots?

2009-04-29T12:21:00.001+04:00

At the bottom of the recent demonstrations that have packed the capital city of Tbilisi with tens of thousands of protesters demanding the resignation of Georgian President Mikheil Saakavili is an investigation by the European Union (EU) as to who started last summer's war between Georgia and Russia. According to a report in the German newspaper Der Spiegel, "A secret document may prove that the Georgian president had planned a war of aggression in South Ossetia."

The Russians charge that Georgian troops launched a surprise attack on South Ossetia last Aug. 7, while Saakavili claims that Georgia was merely defending itself from an invasion by 150 Russian tanks through the Roki Tunnel connecting South Ossetia with North Ossetia. The latter is part of Russia.

But an investigation by the EU has uncovered "Order No. 2" dated Aug. 7, that says that Georgia was not defending itself but acting to "reestablish constitutional order" in South Ossetia. The EU is closely examining an Aug. 7 television interview in which Georgian Gen. Mamuka Kurashjvili used just those words. President Saakavili announced Aug. 8 that "Most of South Ossetia's territory is liberated." He did not claim that Georgia was acting in "self-defense" until Aug. 11. By that time Russian troops had driven the Georgian Army out of South Ossetia and were within 31 miles of Tbilisi. The war lasted five days.

The general's remarks, reports Der Spiegel, "indicate that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was not repelling ‘Russian aggression,' as he continues to claim to this day, but was planning a war of aggression."

The EU commission questioned the Russian deputy head of the general staff, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, who said that the Russians had intercepted Order No. 2, and that it indeed contained the phrase about reestablishing constitutional order. "If the order, which Russian intelligence intercepted, is authentic, it would prove that Saakashvili lied," says Der Spiegel.
The investigation found that Georgia had massed 12,000 troops and 75 tanks on the South Ossetian border for the Aug. 7 attack. The Russians tanks did not transit the tunnel until Aug. 8. While the Commission is also critical of the Russians for meddling in South Ossetia and not preventing South Ossetians from destroying some Georgian villages, "the EU investigation seems to be more of a problem for Tbilisi than for Moscow," according to Der Spiegel.
The Georgians refuse to turn over Order No. 2 to the commission, claiming it is a state secret. And Georgian Minister Temur Yakobashvili charges that the investigation is being funded by Russian gas giant, Gazprom. The commissioners , who reject the charges, are Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, and former German ambassador to Georgia, Uwe Schramm. Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer advises the commission.

"More and more former allies of Saakashvili are now blaming the authoritarian president for the war and calling for his resignation," says Der Spiegel. Indeed, Nino Burjanadze, who helped lead the revolution that put Saakashvili into office, and Irakli Alasania, former Georgian ambassador to the United Nations, are leading the opposition demonstrations.

So far, Saakashvili has not unleashed the police as he did in breaking up similar rallies in 2007, but he arrested 10 opposition members on the eve of the current demonstrations, accusing them of planning a violent overthrow of the government. The charge is based on a secret tape that records a man identified as a "coordinator" for Burjanadze's Democratic Movement-United Georgia Party saying that the former speaker is planning to provoke violence. Burjanadze denies knowing the so-called "coordinator" and says he has no position of authority in her organization.
Saakashvili, who came to power in 2003, says he has no intention of resigning and will finish out his term in 2013. But demonstrators say they will not disperse until he steps down and calls an early election.

The beleaguered president says he is willing to negotiate with the opposition, however most the people camped out in front of the Parliament say that the call for "talks" is a ploy. "He says things like this only for the U.S. and Europe," farmer Amiran Tsertskhladze told The New York Times, "but no one here believes he really wants dialogue."

Sobering thought for the week: Only the opposition of Germany and France kept the Bush Administration from adding Georgia to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) back in 2007. While the Obama Administration is not currently pushing for Georgia to join the alliance, the country's membership is still on the agenda. Had Georgia been a NATO member during the Russia-Georgia War, it would have triggered Article 5 of the treaty requiring member states to come to Georgia's aid-and NATO might have been snookered into a war with Russia.

counterpunch.org

Russia criticizes NATO Georgia war games, urges boycott

2009-04-28T13:11:00.000+04:00

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday criticized NATO exercises in Georgia next month as harmful and said other countries should join Russia in boycotting them.

NATO had invited Russia to send observers to the near month-long exercises that will involve 1,300 troops from NATO members and other countries.

"Of course, Russia will not be participating and advises other countries against doing so," Lavrov told a news conference. "We believe that these exercises, in the current environment, are harmful.

Diplomatic links between Tbilisi and Moscow were cut after last August's brief war over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Moscow also opposes Georgia's efforts to win membership of the western military alliance.

NATO says the scenario for the exercises that run from May 6 to June 1, will be a crisis response operation and poses no security threat to Russia.

Russia has already protested against the exercises by calling off a planned meeting of senior military officials in Brussels early next month, although formal political talks at ambassadorial and ministerial level are still going ahead.

"Rather than hold exercises in Georgia, you need to make the current Georgian regime fulfill its obligations," Lavrov said, referring to an August ceasefire agreement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Central Asia's Kazakhstan has ruled out participating in the exercises, saying its military forces will be too busy to join them.

The row has muddied separate efforts by Moscow and Washington to improve relations that soured in recent years, partially over NATO interest in admitting ex-Soviet states like Georgia and Ukraine as members.

Fixing ties with NATO is part of a broader Moscow effort to improve relations with the United States, which have reached their post-Cold War lows under the previous U.S. administration of George W. Bush.

georgiandaily.com

Sokhumi, Moscow to Sign Border Agreement

2009-04-28T13:05:00.001+04:00

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh will sign an agreement on cooperation in border protection on April 30, the Abkhaz news agency Apsnipress reported.

The Abkhaz delegation led by Bagapsh will arrive in Moscow on April 28.

Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba said that the agreement would be one more step towards boosting the relations with Russia, which "actually is a guarantor of peace and stability in the region."

Russia's President, Dmitry Medvedev, gave his go-ahead to signing of border cooperation treaties with Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia on March 20

civil.ge

Georgia protests continue, demand president quit

2009-04-27T13:01:00.001+04:00

Protesters in Georgia are vowing to continue trying to interfere with the work of President Mikhail Saakashvili, whose resignation they are demanding.

About 2,000 protesters gathered Sunday outside parliament to continue demonstrations that began April 9. Opposition leaders told the crowd they will continue "the hunt for the president" _ efforts to prevent Saakashvili from traveling around the capital and holding meetings.

Demonstrators also gathered outside the presidential residence and the national television studios. An opposition leader, Georgy Khaindrava, told journalists "not to be propagandists for the criminal Saakashvili regime."

Opponents accuse Saakashvili of concentrating power in his own hands and mishandling last year's war with Russia.

etaiwannews.com

Council of Europe to discuss Georgia - South Ossetia war

2009-04-27T12:59:00.001+04:00

The Council of Europe (CE) is to review the report on presidential elections in Macedonia at the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly that begins Monday in Strasbourg.

Finnish President Tarja Halonnen and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapetaro are expected to make an address to participants of the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The main topics of discussion will include the humanitarian consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia, protection of human rights in emergency situations, the situation of human rights defenders in Council of Europe member-states, and action to combat gender-based violations of human rights.

On the first day of the session there will be a short celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of the Council of Europe.

makfax.com.mk

South Ossetia: life after war

2009-04-27T12:50:00.002+04:00

South Ossetia is bouncing back, trying to restore destroyed homes, and healing its psychological wounds. However, many residents fear the current peace won't last long.

Seventy per cent of capital Tskhinval is still in ruins, following the war with Georgia. But, life is going on. Eight months since the war ended, this destruction still reminds the locals of Georgian aggression - and it is no surprise that even children here have only one subject to focus on.

12-year old Serezha Kachmazov, like many of his friends, stayed in a basement during the shelling. On hearing the sound, he burst out laughing.

"What was I supposed to do?" he said. "Cry? No, I am a man... I will not cry, because I am a man."

Olga Mikhailidi, his teacher, says it was a psychological reaction from the stress of the situation. He was laughing instead of crying, she says - and this behavior still happens with him. The teacher says children have become aggressive since the war.

"We were making a snowman in the winter, and I saw how children began to destroy it. That's how destructive energy comes out... It's all horrible and scary, of course," says the teacher.
Natalia Suprunova is the only practicing psychologist in South Ossetia. Her working place is in the tent, which she has to share with some other departments of the ministry she works in. Natalia talks about the residents' disorders she comes across daily.

"Memory loss, speech disorders... After the war they don't sleep well, have become very aggressive. Many of them have experienced things that others don't experience in their lifetime," Suprunova said.

Timur Tskhovrebov, a local resident, has shown the RT team the place where he hit a Georgian tank last August. He says his life was constantly in danger, and he is happy to be alive. His country was in a state of war with Georgia for twenty years, he says, and finally took the victory.
"If we had lost, I would have died. I paid a high price, and knowing that this was not in vain really helps me. I am still in euphoria, despite all the trouble," said the man.
People here continue to suffer from the aftermath of the war. Many of them keep their papers at hand, should they need to make a quick escape. The society is divided into two parts, the psychologists say: those who hope for peace and those who believe there will be a repeat of Georgian aggression. But one thing is for sure - the consequences will last a while, the doctors say.

RussiaToday

RF, S Ossetia, Georgia agree to establish 24-hour hotline - RF general

2009-04-24T12:50:00.002+04:00

Representatives of Russia, South Ossetia and Georgia have agreed to establish a 24-hour hotline.
They met in the Georgian village of Ergneti, near the border with South Ossetia, on Thursday for the first time after the events in the Caucasus last August.

"Officials have been appointed for this purpose," first deputy chief of Russia's General Staff Lieutenant-General Sergei Antonov told Itar-Tass.

In his words, the parties agreed "to meet twice a month as the need arises and in the state of emergency". "The next meeting is planning to be held in the Georgian village of Ergneti in the beginning of December. A responsible and non-easy work should be done and their effectiveness will depend on political will and high professionalism of all participants in the meeting," Antonov said.

According to the general, the results of the joint work will be thoroughly studied. Antonov said, "New recommendations will be needed to increase the effectiveness of the work on preventing any incidents." "Special attention will be riveted to objective information given after incidents. Lives of peoples depend on this work. We call on all participants in the meeting to resolve problems responsibly."

Antonov noted that Russia's position is to ease tension and restore trust between South Ossetia and Georgia. "It's such approach that was proposed by our colleagues during today's meeting - Russia, South Ossetia, Georgia, the EU and with the participation of OSCE representatives," he said.

"We seek to adequately react on the situation in the field of security, including joint briefings on a regular basis, ensure security of important facilities, counteract crimes, provide humanitarian aid and solve other problems that could strengthen stability and security, prevent incidents and react on them," Antonov said.

"The meeting is being held within the framework of the Geneva agreements on the normalisation of the situation in the area adjacent to the South Ossetian-Georgian border and on the improvement of closer contacts between Russia and the European Union in order to settle the situation in this zone," the Russian military explained.

"We consider an important political event the agreements reached at the Geneva consultations and designed to prevent and react on incidents. This is an important practical result that will facilitate stability and security in the region, i.e. in the border area - between South Ossetia and Georgia," he said.

South Ossetia's delegation is led by presidential deputy plenipotentiary representative for the post-conflict settlement Merab Chigoyev and Georgia is represented by head of the Interior Ministry's press department Shota Utiashvili, and the EU delegation is led by head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia Haber Hansjorg.

itar-tass.com

Russia, Georgia, S. Ossetia meet

2009-04-24T12:45:00.001+04:00

Russia, Georgia and the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia agreed Thursday to set up a hotline to deal with emergencies.

Representatives of the three met for the first time since the Russian incursion into Georgia last summer, Itar-Tass reported. The meeting was held in the Georgian village of Ergneti near the South Ossetian border.

Lt. Gen. Sergei Antonov, the first deputy chief of the Russian general staff, said the delegates agreed to hold meetings as needed. The next scheduled meeting is set for early December, also in Ergneti.

"We seek to adequately react on the situation in the field of security, including joint briefings on a regular basis, ensure security of important facilities, counteract crimes, provide humanitarian aid and solve other problems that could strengthen stability and security, prevent incidents and react on them," Antonov said.

Russia intervened when the Georgian government tried to bring South Ossetia back under its control. Russia later recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent countries, although no other government has done so.

upi.com

Russia, Georgia, Separatists To Start New Talks - EU Monitors

2009-04-23T12:28:00.001+04:00

Security officials from Georgia, Russia and the rebel region of South Ossetia will start talks with international observers on Thursday aimed at preventing violent incidents, E.U. monitors said.
The planned talks on the border between Georgian- and South Ossetian-controled territory will be the first such meeting to be held on the ground since last summer's war between Russia and Georgia.

The meeting comes after the three sides agreed to hold regular talks on "incident prevention" during internationally mediated negotiations in Geneva in February.

"We're very pleased that the arrangements have been made to get all the parties together for the first time," said Steve Bird, a spokesman for the European Union mission observing a ceasefire that ended the war.

"The long-term goal is to have regular weekly meetings to discuss incidents and to try to build up security and stability in the region," he said.

The meeting will include senior officials from all sides and international monitors from the E.U. and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Bird said.

Eventually talks will be expanded to include the U.N. and representatives of another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia, he said.

Sporadic violence has continued around South Ossetia since the E.U.-brokered ceasefire was signed in August, ending a brief conflict over the rebel region.

Russian forces poured into Georgia in August in response to a Georgian military attempt to retake South Ossetia, which broke free of Tbilisi's control in the early 1990s and had received extensive backing from Moscow for years.

Russian forces occupied swathes of territory and bombed targets across Georgia before mostly withdrawing to within South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Moscow recognized as independent states.

A new round of talks aimed at preventing another war is to take place in Geneva on May 18-19.

easybourse.com

Georgia opposition tries to revive street campaign

2009-04-23T12:23:00.001+04:00

Tents in the streets paralysed traffic in central Tbilisi and hundreds of cars crawled in convoy to the Georgian capital on Wednesday to breathe fresh life into an opposition campaign to oust the president.

Several thousand people, car horns blaring, answered opposition calls to travel to Tbilisi in a bid to boost numbers as the street campaign against President Mikheil Saakashvili nears its third week.

Opposition leaders are demanding the 41-year-old leader step down over his record on democracy and last year's disastrous war with Russia.

But Saakashvili has refused, and the authorities -- wary of repeating a 2007 police crackdown against the latest mass rallies against the president -- are observing patience with the protesters despite traffic chaos in the capital.

Turnout has dwindled to just a few thousand from the peak of 60,000 when the campaign began on April 9. But opposition leaders deny the campaign is running out of steam.

Supporters have set up tents and improvised 'prison cells' down the central Rustaveli Avenue past parliament and other state buildings, forcing drivers to take to the backstreets.
The opposition promises to keep rallying and blocking streets until Saakashvili steps down, but analysts question the unity of the more than a dozen opposition leaders involved or their ability to draw enough people to force the president out.

"Much more people wanted to join us, but we decided that we would face difficulties with their accommodation in Tbilisi," Irakly Melashvili, opposition National Forum leader, said of the effort to draw supporters from outside the capital.

Critics accuse Saakashvili of monopolising power and exerting pressure on the judiciary and media since coming to power on the back of the 2003 "Rose Revolution".

Last year's five-day war with Russia, when Moscow crushed a Georgian assault on South Ossetia, emboldened critics who say Saakashvili -- perceived by some Georgians as brash and impulsive -- has made too many mistakes to stay in power until 2013.

But analysts say his ruling United National Movement retains wide support and his position appears strong, despite the defection of some top allies and several cabinet reshuffles.
They say the government is biding its time until more moderate opposition leaders lose patience with the street campaign and enter talks with the government.

kyivpost.com

Russia's Protest Against Nato Military Training In Georgia Is Element Of "exchange" In Moscow-washington Dialogue: Experts

2009-04-23T12:19:00.000+04:00

Experts say Russia's protests against NATO military training in Georgia is another element of "exchange" in a dialogue between West and Moscow.

"Moscow increases number of negotiating positions with the U.S. as agenda of mutual relations are being formed actively. Sides seek subjects for exchange," Russian expert on security Mikhail Remizov said.

It is planned to hold NATO military training in Georgia, which is striving for the alliance, in early May. NATO planned to involve 1,300 military men from 19 countries to the training and hold them at 20 kilometers east of Tbilisi to improve coordination amongst the alliance members and its partners.

Russia proposed NATO to cancel or postpone military training in Georgia. Russia considers the military training to be provocation in a period of anti-president demonstrations.

"I asked the NATO Secretary General [...] to postpone or fully cancel the training," Russian Special Envoy to NATO Dmitriy Rogozin told Reuter and added that Russia is against of NATO training near its borders.

However alliance representatives are not going to cancel military training.

NATO will not refuse to hold military exercises in Georgia in early May, despite Russia's address to cancel or postpone it, NATO Press Secretary Simone De Manso said.

"The exercises have been planned for a long time and it will go ahead as planned," De Manso told Trend News in a telephone conversation from Brussels.

Analysts say Russia's protest against alliance's military training in Georgia is a ground for exchanges with the U.S.

Military training can play a role of trump card in West-Moscow talks, British expert on South Caucasus Ziba Norman said. "There is a genuine need for cooperation with Russia regarding supply routes for military operations in Afghanistan, and Russia may have calculated that this can be used as a bargaining tool in an attempt to prevent the NATO exercises in Georgia," Director of the London-based Transatlantic and Caucasus Studies Institute Norman told Trend News via email.

Remizov said Moscow is increasing number of negotiating positions with the U.S. as agenda of mutual relations are being formed actively. "As a subject for "exchange" the problem of military cooperation with Georgia was more important than even missile defense system in Europe as prospects of military bases in Georgia are more significant for Russia," Russian National Strategy Institute Director Mikhail Remizov told Trend News over telephone from Moscow.

Western observers say Russia's step is also demonstration of regional influence in the Caucasus.
Georgia falls within an area that Russia considers to be its private preserve, an area in which it believes it has the right to assert its influence, Norman said. "Georgia is of greater strategic importance to Russia. The hasty recognition of Abkhazia's independence and the subsequent development of a Russian military presence on the Black Sea coast are clear examples of just how critical Russia believes this region is," Norman said.

"Moscow's protest is part of a strategy to weaken NATO, so if these exercises were to be abandoned then NATO would lose credibility," Norman said.

Russian expert said not military decision of NATO member states, but diplomatic situation is principal in this situation. "Moscow wants the regime in Georgia to be diplomatically out of the zone of military cooperation with the West because this regime does not hide that it is concerned with the possible military revenge," Remizov said. Moscow's protests are simply policy to prevent military cooperation, he said.

turkishweekly.net

Shooting Reported at S.Ossetia Border

2009-04-23T12:09:00.000+04:00

Both the Georgian and South Ossetian sides have reported that a shooting took place at an administrative border in south-east from Tskhinvali on April 22.

The both sides have blamed each other of opening fire. The Georgian Interior Ministry said that fire was opened at the Georgian police post in the village of Plavi "from various directions from the Russian-occupied South Ossetian territory" at 8:30pm on April 22. Shooting from automatic weapons lasted for several minutes, the Georgian Interior Ministry said.

The South Ossetian side, however, claimed that its village of Otrev in an immediate vicinity of the administrative border line came under fire from the Georgian side with use of automatic weapons. "The South Ossetian side has not yielded to this provocation and has not opened a response fire," Ibragim Gassiev, the breakaway region's deputy defense minister, said in remarks posted on website of the region's ministry for information and press.

civil.ge

Russia intercepts Georgian Olympic spy

2009-04-22T12:39:00.001+04:00

Russia's FSB security service on Tuesday said it had unmasked a Georgian spying on preparations for the Olympic Games and plotting ‘subversive activities,' news agencies reported. "The Russian FSB uncovered and halted an agent of the Georgian security services, illegally trespassing on Russian territory with the aim of carrying out reconnaissance and subversive activities," an FSB spokesman said. Tbilisi denied that the man was one of its agents and accused Moscow of tit-for-tat retaliation after Georgian authorities detained a Russian youth activist last week. Russian counterintelligence said the Georgian agent had entered the country in 2007 on a Ukrainian passport and was undercover as the owner of an Internet cafe in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

"He was directed to gather information on the socio-political situation in the region, and on the preparation for the Olympic Games," the FSB source was quoted as saying by Interfax and RIA-Novosti.

dailytimes.com

Moscow Pulls Out of NATO-Russia Military Meet

2009-04-22T12:37:00.000+04:00

Russia will pull out of a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council chiefs of staff to protest what it described as "provocative" war games planned by the 28-member alliance in Georgia next month, reports say. Recently, Russian officials including President Dmitry Medvedev have harshly criticized the planned exercises.

Russia's NATO envoy, Dmitry Rogozin said if there were no responses to a Russian complaint about the exercises, Moscow would take certain measures.

"I can reveal one of them now, the meeting of the commanders of the general staffs of Russia and NATO, planned for May 7, will not take place," Rogozin said. He said from Russia's point of view, and from Georgia's point of view, and from the viewpoint of world affairs, such war games are clearly provocative in nature.

However, the envoy did not say whether Moscow would scuttle a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council--the highest-level body linking Russia and the alliance--expected to take place in May or June.

NATO-Russia Council deliberations were suspended last year after the brief Georgia-Russia war, but the two sides have tried to resume dialogue. A council meeting at the ambassador level is set for April 29.

Russia and Georgia have been at loggerheads after fighting a brief war in August, and Moscow has been extremely wary of any cooperation between NATO and the pro-Western government in Tbilisi.

rttnews.com

Kazakhstan, Estonia and Latvia will not participate in NATO exercises in Georgia

2009-04-22T12:35:00.001+04:00

Kazakhstan, Estonia and Latvia will not accept participation in NATO exercises in the territory of Georgia, which plans to involve the forces of 19 NATO countries and the partners of the Alliance, "Kazakhstan Today" agency reports citing the Russian television channel Vesti.

The Minister of Defense of Kazakhstan, Danial Ahmetov, said, "We never agreed to take part in the exercises. Therefore, I consider it premature to speak about participation of our contingent of military personnel in the exercises."

Moscow had already called the forthcoming exercises provocative. The President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, stated that maneuvers of the Alliance in the territory of Georgia will lead to various complications and will not assist renewal of cooperation between Russia and NATO. The representative at the Alliance, Dmitry Rogozin, warned Russia that Moscow will refuse renewal of contacts to the Alliance at the military level if the exercises take place, Vesti reminded.

gazeta.kz

Lavrov deplores Nato 'Cold War logic'

2009-04-22T12:30:00.000+04:00

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused members of Nato of reverting to the "confrontational logic of the Cold War".

In an interview with the BBC Russian service, Mr Lavrov said the roots of the diplomatic hostility lay in the alliance's "unilateral position" on the war between Russia and Georgia last August.

He said Nato members refused "to even debate the reasons for the conflict" over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.

"The recent cooling of our relations with Nato exposes clear problems in our dialogue," he said.
"We do not understand this tendency - still there, still not understood by us - to try to downplay the norms of international law, the role of the UN Security Council," he added.

However, Mr Lavrov stressed that Nato was "not inherently seen by Russia as a source of danger".

Instead, he said, it was "part of the existing European security infrastructure", and an "organisation with which Russia wants to co-operate".

Acute disputes

As part of the relaunch of its website ( bbcrussian.com ), the BBC's Russian Service interviewed the Russian and UK foreign ministers on the state of bilateral relations.

Mr Lavrov and his British counterpart, David Miliband, agreed that Russia has a particular role to play in the world. Among the key factors, both men identified Russia's "immense geography, natural resources, and global interests".

This, said Mr Lavrov, was why Russia had been able to "form partner-like relations with many countries around the world".

He rejected any suggestion that Russia had become friendless or somehow marginalised, and pointed to the recent G20 summit in London, which, he insisted, had "resulted in practical measures to restart the global economy that would have been unthinkable even two years ago".
Commercial links between Russia and the UK have boomed, despite considerable political differences and, at times, acute disputes.

Mr Miliband said the UK and Russia needed to concentrate on "what's working" in their relationship.

He identified trade, people-to-people contact, co-operation over the Middle East and Afghanistan, and, most recently, measures to tackle climate change.

Mr Miliband also stressed that the "positive personal chemistry" between President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Gordon Brown should help address the issues that divide London and Moscow.

'Special influence'

The interviews suggested there remain areas of clear disagreement between London and Moscow. In particular, their respective positions on Georgia and its breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are still far apart.

Mr Miliband said the UK did not agree with Russia over recognition of the two regions' independence or what he called "the invasion of Georgia" last August.

The UK could not recognise South Ossetian or Abkhazian independence, the British Foreign Secretary explained, because "they did not go through the proper procedures, and the outcome was the result of military force".

Mr Lavrov's approach was quite different.

Highlighting what he described as "the harm done by attempting to deny Russia's right to defend its national interests", he insisted Russia's actions in August 2008 were both justified and legal.
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, he maintained, left Georgian sovereignty under an old Soviet law, dating back to 1990, allowing territories and republics the formal right of secession.

Russia's decision to recognise their sovereignty, years later and only after the events of last August, was "not the result of geopolitical ambition, but in the interests of security and the very survival of the Abkhaz and South Ossetian peoples", he said.

Mr Miliband said the UK recognised that Russia wanted "to see stability along its borders", but insisted that "no country should have zones of special influence".

President Medvedev has referred to "zones of privileged interest" in the former Soviet republics. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Lavrov said attempts to "revert to ancient European history", would be "counterproductive".

'Information war'

Both ministers appeared to allude to lingering Cold War stereotypes in each other's policies.
Mr Miliband suggested Russia and the UK, both diverse nations with complex histories, were still coming to terms with the loss of empire.

However, Mr Lavrov singled out the Western media for criticism, accusing it of "allowing itself to be used as a weapon in an information war".

Mr Lavrov believes that parts of the Western media are consciously trying to undermine Russia's image in the world.

A number of British academics and writers have asked whether there is a "new Cold War". Some believe it has already begun.

But the mere suggestion angered the Russian foreign minister.
He described it as "the product of the inertia of the imagination of some sensationalist journalists, as well as biased experts".

'Politics of consensus'

While many of the disagreements between London and Moscow have been about specific issues, there are also wider, philosophical differences over how Europe's security should be guaranteed.
Moscow sees Nato's expansion, for example, as a hangover from the Cold War.

Yet London has been an enthusiastic supporter of Nato membership for Central and Eastern European nations, and continues to support the prospect of eventual membership for Ukraine and Georgia.

Indeed, in his interview Mr Miliband said the door was open, although he warned that neither country should see joining as "on the cards just yet".

Mr Lavrov's line appeared somewhat more cautious than that of many Russian officials, who have capitalised on widespread anti-Nato sentiments for political gain.

Mr Lavrov explained that the prospect of further eastwards expansion could "not avoid causing concern" in Russia, but said a Nato willing to "take adequate account" of Russia's national interests would be a major factor in bolstering "the new politics of consensus".

The unresolved murder of the former Russian security service agent, Alexander Litvinenko, in London in November 2006, is a lingering source of tension between Russia and the UK.
Russia refuses to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the man British prosecutors suspect of poisoning Litvinenko.

Moscow points to a constitutional ban on extraditions of its citizens to other countries.
However, in his interview, Mr Miliband insisted that "justice will be sought for a very serious crime".

Asked about Russia's response, he described it bluntly as "no co-operation and no movement".

bbc.co.uk

Georgian opposition to protect itself

2009-04-17T13:27:00.002+04:00

Georgian opposition parties will form unarmed people's militia units to provide security for those who participate in civil protests. Some 20 opposition members have been attacked since the beginning of protests.This is according to Conservative Party spokesman Bidzina Gujabidze, who voiced the opposition's concern over the attacks that have mostly happened at nighttime.

Many opposition members say the Georgian Interior Ministry is behind the attacks. The Ministry in turn claims some of the scuffles were initiated by protesters themselves. Georgian human rights commissioner Sozar Subari has listed numerous attacks on opposition activists by unidentified individuals over the past few days.
Among these are the crackdown of the opposition press-center in front of the parliament building on April 12 and the beating of Coca-Cola Georgia CEO Vakhtang Lagidze with singer Zurab Mandzhavidze on their way back from the rally on the eve of April 14. Another two opposition members were beaten in the early hours of April 16.

Subari also called for the Interior Ministry to submit CCTV footage they possess, that may help in identifying some of the attackers. "The attacks on opposition activists that continue in Tbilisi greatly resemble the situation in November 2007, when opposition activists were subject to similar assaults before a peaceful rally was dispersed by force," the ombudsman said.
Rallies in front of the Parliament building in Tbilisi have been ongoing for a week. Their main demand is for the president to leave office. It has not yet been met and Saakashvili has stated his intention to keep his post several times.

Even when the opposition members prepared all the necessary documents for head of state's resignation, he refused to put pen to paper, saying:

"On this concrete issue the answer is ‘No'."

There will be a short break in the protest action for Easter but the opposition leaders promise even bigger rallies after the weekend. Meanwhile Georgia's Parliament Speaker David Bakradze has announced that Mikhail Saakashvili will be visiting the US in the near future. The particular date of the visit is not yet disclosed.

Opposition in chains

Poet and opposition member Lia Naroushvili sits in a cage every day as a way of symbolizing that her own country has become a prison under Saakashvili. At home she has her belongings packed and ready to leave Georgia if Saakashvili doesn't resign. As an active member of the opposition, she is holding onto the hope that one day he will step down and she will be able to return to her native land headed by a new leader.

"The whole city is against Saakashvili. If he has at least a little bit of brain he will go. There's no place for him in Georgia. But if he stays against everyone's will I'm not going to live in this country. I don't care where, just out of here," Naroushvili says. For many the turning point in his presidency was last year's August conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia. The opposition says it can't forgive what they say was the president's action in South Ossetia.

According to leader of Georgia's Peoples Party Koba Davitashvili, Saakashvili's administration had other failures as well:

"The totalitarian regime, violations of freedom of speech, political assassinations, terrorist attacks, political prisoners flock the jails. And, above all, it is due to Saakashvili's rash actions that Georgia has lost territory," Davitashvili said.

RussiaToday

Abkhazia says no need for EU peace observers

2009-04-17T13:19:00.002+04:00

Abkhazia's leader reiterated on Thursday that his republic does not want peace observers from the European Union, but said they should continue to be deployed in neighboring Georgia as a safeguard against aggression. Under a deal signed by the French and Russian leaders last September, following the Russia-Georgia war, the EU was to deploy 200 monitors in Georgia. However, their mandate became a source of dispute after Russia recognized Georgia's breakaway republics - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - as independent states.

"I confirm that there would be no point in admitting an EU mission to Abkhazia, because we have observers and a mission from the United Nations. This is more than enough for us," Abkhaz president Sergei Bagapsh said during an interview on Russia Today's Spotlight program to be broadcast on Friday. He said Abkhazia is "cautious" over admitting EU monitors, due to the EU's refusal to recognize Abkhazia as an independent country. However, he said the observers are still needed south of the border. "Observers of the military situation are needed over there, where the aggression has been coming from for the past 20 years."

Bagapsh reiterated that Abkhazia refuses to negotiate with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's regime. "As far as Georgia's political actors and political leadership are concerned, we will have no contact with the current leadership," he said. On February 13, the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution to extend the mandate for its observer mission in Georgia and Abkhazia by four months.

The UN mission in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone - formerly known as the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) - was deployed in 1993 to oversee a ceasefire following a post-Soviet conflict that resulted in Abkhazia gaining de facto independence. Bagapsh said that Abkhazia will not seek recognition from any other countries. "We are not going to ask anyone to recognize Abkhazia. We ourselves must work to create such a situation in the republic - economic and political stability, national unity - that will leave nobody with any questions," he said.

Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia after the five-day war with Georgia, which attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Most residents of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia had held Russian citizenship for several years.
Russia's decision was condemned by the United States and the EU. Nicaragua has so far been the only other country to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

rian.ru

Int'l talks on Russia-Georgia conflict to resume in May

2009-04-17T13:10:00.001+04:00

The fifth round of international talks aimed to solve outstanding issues left over by the Russia-Georgia war last August will be held here on May 18-19, mediators of the talks said in a statement on Thursday.

The series of talks, initiated last October, are co-chaired by the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations.
Other parties to the talks include Russia, Georgia, the United States as well as Georgia's two breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which were recognized as independent states by Russia shortly after the five-day war in August.

The last round of talks were held in February, during which participants agreed on a mechanism to prevent and solve security incidents in and around the sensitive South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions. But the parties failed to resolve long-term security and humanitarian issues.

xinhuanet.com

Georgian opposition to create public committees

2009-04-17T13:07:00.000+04:00

Georgian opposition said it is beginning on Friday "to create public committees across the country for a better holding next week of peaceful actions to demand the resignation of (President) Mikhail Saakashvili."

The opposition declared "total mobilization of Georgian citizens for protest actions" and said next week its activists will leave for Georgian regions to arrange for the travel of supporters to Tbilisi.
Opposition leaders said all those willing to join the protests will be able to register at the committees.

Rallies will continue during Easter, however they will be modest, the opposition said, adding activists will daily visit all the places in Tbilisi where demonstrations were held.
In the meantime, authorities said they were ready to discuss all issues with the opposition except for Saakashvili's resignation.

However, the opposition responded the resignation is the only demand, which it may discuss with the president.

"The opposition is ready to meet Saakashvili and explain to him why he has to resign and to listen to his arguments why he does not want to resign," opposition leaders said.

itar-tass.com

The Georgian trap

2009-04-17T12:54:00.001+04:00

Russia slams NATO exercise in Georgia

2009-04-16T15:50:00.000+04:00

Russia Thursday criticised NATO's planned military exercise in Georgia, saying it could give the Georgian regime a sense of impunity and raise tensions in the Caucasus region."I hope that NATO countries, in planning future interaction with Georgia within the partnership for peace programme, will avoid steps that could nudge the Georgian regime into a feeling of permissiveness and impunity," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

NATO announced Wednesday that an exercise involving 19 member states would take place from May 6 till June 1. Georgia itself has applied to become a member of NATO.

"With regard to Georgia's regime, a demonstration of NATO's participation (in the exercises) will not send the right signal by those who honestly want to achieve stability in the Caucasus," he said.

The minister said that countries should understand that in view of the August 2008 conflict, which began with Georgia's attack on South Ossetia, supplying arms to Georgia poses a severe danger.

He said that NATO countries have ignored Russia's warnings in recent years in continually supplying offensive weapons to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's regime.
NATO Press Secretary Robert Pshel told RIA Novosti that during the exercises "no one will be using weapons or tanks".

The drills are aimed at improving interoperability between NATO and partner countries, within the framework of Partnership for Peace, Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative programmes.

The exercises are "not purely NATO", but are partner exercises within the framework of the Partnership for Peace programme, Pshel said. "They are open to all of NATO's partner countries, including Russia."

Russia's NATO envoy, Dmitry Rogozin, earlier said the country had asked NATO's leadership not to hold the exercises.

"We sent an official note to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer proposing that the NATO military exercises in Georgia, planned for the near future, be postponed or cancelled," he said.

theindian.com

Will there be Rose II in Georgia?

2009-04-15T13:56:00.002+04:00

Demonstrations against President Mikhail Saakashvili continued fifth day on April 13th in Georgia. Consolidated opposition demands president’s resignation, early presidential and parliamentary elections being held in the spring 2009.So far the participation to protests is not enough to implement Rose Revolution II but two new regional questions have potential to develop conflicts and change political geography once again.

Critics accuse Mr Saakashvili, who came to power on the back of the 2003 Rose Revolution, of monopolising power and exerting pressure on the judiciary and the media. Last year's war, when Russia crushed a Georgian assault on breakaway South Ossetia and caused also separation of other breakaway province – Abkhazia are added to his other crucial mistakes.

During previous demonstration in 2007, Saakashvili deployed the military and successfully — though violently — crushed the protests. But that demonstration consisted of 15,000 protesters.Now the first time all 17 opposition parties have consolidated enough to organize a mass movement in the country. Furthermore, many members of the government – who were leading also Rose I - are joining the cause.

Demonstrations

Some 60,000 people turned out on Thursday for the first day of demonstrations - but far fewer were visible on Friday. About 10,000 people protested Saturday 11.4.2009 in three locations: in front of parliament, outside Saakashvili's residence and at the headquarters of the main state television channel, where they called for the demonstrations to be broadcast live.

The Georgian opposition reversed its previous decision to hold a break for Palm Sunday and resume protests on Monday after the opposition's press center, set up in front of the Georgian parliament's building, was attacked by unidentified assailants on the night of April 11-12. Opposition leaders said a 50-strong mob had attacked the venue, tearing banners and ripping out computer cables at a stage set up outside parliament as dozens of protesters prepared to spend a third night on the street. Police, however, said protesters had set on street cleaners who arrived to clear the site of litter. (Source Newsdaily)

Georgia's political opposition will erect fake jail cells at sites across Tbilisi to symbolize the country turning into a police state and to symbolise imprisoned democracy.

Adjara and Samtskhe-Javakheti

There is also concern that protests are planned in the Georgian secessionist region of Adjara, which rose up against and rejected Saakashvili’s government in 2004 after the Rose Revolution. This region was suppressed by Saakashvili once and has held a grudge ever since, looking for the perfect time to rise up again. Tbilisi especially wants to keep Adjara under its control because it is home to the large port of Batumi, and many of Georgia’s transport routes to Turkey run through it.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Batumi 9th April with demand president’s resignation. Movement for “Fair Georgia” representative said they will hold similar rallies on May 6 if the president refuses to resign.

Adjara regionIf Adjara rises up, there are rumors in the region that its neighboring secessionist region, Samtskhe-Javakheti, will join in to help destabilize Saakashvili and the government. Georgia already officially lost its two northern secessionist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to Russian occupation during the August 2008 war and is highly concerned with its southern regions trying to break away.

In Samtskhe-Javakheti, an isolated, predominantly ethnic Armenian region in the country’s south there is a risk that socio-economic problems may turn into ethnic problems.The financial decline, crisis in central government and ethnic question makes the region a potential conflict region.

Hot early summer starting

Georgia is living now crucial moments if there will be Rose Revolution II or not. My point of view is that three aspects will show the direction:

First if opposition can get more supporters on the streets, President can manage today’s demonstrations, but if there is over 100,000 protesters this could be enough for revolution.

Second aspect is if there will be enough support for change outside Tbilisi and especially if the two secessionist regions see opportunity now implement wide autonomy.

Third aspect is the response of present government and President, violence can develop situation worse at least mid term, negotiations and concessions can divide opposition. Georgia is not isolated state in Europe, it is only one flashpoint in northern Black Sea region.In Moldova some activities started last week, in Ukraine triangle drama between two governing parties and opposition is erupting anytime soon boosted next gas bill and rising ethnic tensions. Neighbour Balkans has its own tensions and the big game about energy and sphere of influence is going on between U.S., EU and Russia. Anyway that part of world can be a little bit different after this year.

arirusila.cafebabel.com

Strong explosion shook Tskhinval

2009-04-14T13:17:00.001+04:00

An explosion occurred in the center of Tskhinval late night. The Committee of Information and Mass-media of the South Ossetia reported that the Georgian side was shooting from large-caliber firearm from the Georgian-controlled territory. Georgia officials as usually told it was a provocation and left no other comments.

The local population of the Georgian villages confirm the fact of explosion, although they do not know what exactly happened. The Ministry of home affairs of South Ossetia will investigate the explosion

ossetia-war.com

Georgia protests enter fifth day

2009-04-14T12:43:00.001+04:00

Thousands of opposition supporters in Georgia have begun a fifth day of protests, calling on President Mikhail Saakashvili to step down.

The demonstrators gathered outside the parliament in Tbilisi, before marching on to the presidential palace, where they plan to hold an ongoing protest.
Correspondents say turnout is falling and the opposition seems increasingly unsure of how to continue its campaign.
Mr Saakashvili says Russian oligarchs are financing the Georgian opposition.

The opposition accuses him of mishandling last year's conflict with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, and of being increasingly autocratic.

Consistent message

After a brief pause on Sunday, more than 20,000 opposition supporters returned to the Georgian parliament building for a fifth day, chanting "Misha, Go!". They again blocked the capital's main street, cheered on the main opposition leaders and began to march on the presidential palace.

Mr Saakashvili's critics say his style of government is autocratic

"The fight continues, and today I have the impression that this fight will end soon with your victory," said Levan Gachechiladze, the main opposition candidate in last year's presidential election.

"Saakashvili must leave," he added. "There is no place for him in Georgia's future."
The BBC's Tom Esslemont in Tbilisi says the protesters' message has not changed - they still want Mr Saakashvili to resign - but with a diminishing turnout, the opposition seems increasingly unsure as to how to convince him or the rest of the country of its cause.
Some 60,000 people rallied at the start of the campaign on Thursday.

On Saturday, the opposition leaders talked about entering dialogue with the president and about spreading their protest to the regions.

Now, those two seemingly unpopular ideas appear to have been shelved, our correspondent says. While many opposition supporters hold the president to account for leading his country into a disastrous war with Russia last summer, others see no alternative to him as president and are wary of further destabilising their country, he adds.

Mr Saakashvili remains resolute in his determination to finish his final term in office and has repeatedly offered to engage in dialogue with the opposition.

bbc.co.uk

Announcement

2009-04-13T16:17:00.006+04:00

'Georgian crimes' section is updated.

Watch photos HERE.

Lavrov says Georgia conflict proves dangers of NATO expansion

2009-04-13T13:15:00.001+04:00

The August conflict with Georgia demonstrated just how dangerous NATO's eastward expansion could be, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a session of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council on Saturday.

"The Caucasus crisis showed how dangerous the automatic eastward expansion of NATO is. It is enough just to imagine what would have happened if Georgia had been a NATO member, as Russia would have still had no other option but to act as it did last August," he said. Last December European NATO members led by Germany blocked bids by Georgia and Ukraine, who are actively seeking membership in the military alliance.

The refusal followed Russia's five-day war with Tbilisi in August, launched after Georgian troops mounted an offensive on its former republic, South Ossetia. The conflict led to a suspension in the Russia-NATO Council in September 2008, although the two sides agreed earlier this month to resume work.

Lavrov said the Russia-NATO Council could be a basis for cooperation within the Euro-Atlantic space, but ruled out Russia joining the alliance. "The Russia-NATO Council could, if all participants, including the EU, have the political will, become a constructive basis for cooperation...in the Euro-Atlantic space," he said, adding "I don't think Russia could join NATO as it currently stands."

The minister also described Russia-American relations, which have shown signs of a thaw since U.S. President Barack Obama took office in January, as "cautiously optimistic."

"Irrespective of what decisions the Obama administration makes in the coming months... the positive change in our relations with the U.S. will work to the general global benefit of regional politics, particularly in the Euro-Atlantic," the foreign minister said.

rian.ru

Georgia pres face protests

2009-04-11T15:19:00.004+04:00

Thousands of protesters are expected to continue action on Saturday after blocking streets in the Georgian capital and vowing widespread civil disobedience on Friday as President Mikheil Saakashvili rejected opposition calls to resign. Following the biggest demonstrations against Saakashvili's rule since Georgia's August 2008 war with Russia, opposition protesters temporarily blocked main streets and marched on the president's office.

Opposition leaders vowed to continue roadblocks every day from 3pm to 9pm (11am GMT to 5pm GMT) and to expand protests nationwide until Saakashvili resigns.

"The opposition has decided to start a national disobedience campaign," Kakha Kukava, a co-leader of the opposition Conservative Party, told a crowd of 25 000 protesters in central Tbilisi.
At least 60 000 opposition supporters had rallied to call for Saakashvili's resignation on Thursday. With the number of protesters falling, opposition leaders sought to ratchet up pressure on Saakashvili by announcing the roadblocks and disobedience campaign.
Saakashvili has steadfastly refused to step down but said he was open to talks with the opposition.

"I've been listening to ultimatums every month for the last five years... My term expires in 2013," Saakashvili told journalists.

Open for dialogue

Saakashvili said he was ready for dialogue on a raft of issues, including electoral reforms and constitutional changes such as direct elections for mayors and other municipal officials.
The secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, Eka Tkeshelashvili, told reporters that police would present "no obstacles" to protesters blocking the streets and called for the opposition to sit down for talks.

"We are dedicated to a meaningful dialogue... We hope that sometime soon the opposition will have a constructive approach," she said.

The United States on Friday refrained from comment on the calls for Saakashvili, a strong ally of the administration of former president George W. Bush, to resign. "This is an internal Georgian matter," said a US State Department spokesperson, Richard Aker, after being questioned on the resignation calls.

The protests are being organised by a wide coalition of opposition groups and analysts have questioned whether organisers will be able to maintain unity. Responding to Saakashvili's offer, opposition leader Irakli Alasania said he was open to meetings as long as they are held "in a transparent way."

"Nobody is against real dialogue," said Alasania, a former Georgian envoy to the United Nations who is considered a moderate voice in the opposition. But some rejected negotiations on anything but Saakashvili stepping down. "The only thing that can be discussed with Saakashvili is his resignation," said another opposition leader Salome Zurabishvili, a former foreign minister. "We are open for transparent dialogue on how Saakashvili will resign."

Protesters had blocked the capital's main road, Rustaveli Avenue, overnight before rallying in the afternoon and then paralysing traffic in central Tbilisi by marching through the streets.
At midnight, only a few dozen protesters remained outside parliament and organisers said they had told supporters not to protest overnight.

Unpopular or not?

Opponents accuse Saakashvili of mishandling the conflict with Russia and of becoming increasingly autocratic since he came to power following the 2003 Rose Revolution. Both the government and opposition have promised to keep the demonstrations peaceful, but tensions are running high and some fear the protests could spark civil unrest.

Accusing authorities of intimidation, opposition leaders said up to 10 of their activists had been beaten by unidentified assailants near the protests. Police denied any involvement by the authorities and promised to investigate any attacks. Government loyalists say Saakashvili continues to enjoy widespread support and that the opposition is looking to overturn the results of a snap presidential poll last year in which he won a second five-year term.

The Bush administration's strong backing for Saakashvili has been cited as critical factor in prompting the Georgian government last August to launch an armed campaign to regain control of the separatist region of South Ossetia. The short conflict resulted in a crushing defeat for Georgia at the hands of Russia's overwhelming military response in support of the separatists.

iafrica.com

Georgia's embattled president refuses to resign

2009-04-10T15:00:00.000+04:00

Democratic Movement-United Georgia party leader Nino Burjanadze with her supporters during a demonstration in Tbilisi yesterday. Some 40,000 Georgians rallied at the start of a campaign to force President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign, an effort led by opponents emboldened by last years disastrous war with Russia.

MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI, Georgia's pro-western president, last night rejected opposition demands that he resign following a day of noisy mass protests against his rule in the capital, Tbilisi, and other Georgian cities.

About 60,000 people took part in a rally outside Georgia's parliament building in Tbilisi, waving flags and chanting slogans, in what amounts to the most serious and sustained political challenge to Mr Saakashvili since last summer's disastrous war with Russia.

Opposition leaders said they would continue their protests until Mr Saakasvhili quits. They accuse him of presiding over an increasingly autocratic regime, and of unravelling many of the freedoms associated with the 2003 Rose Revolution that brought Mr Saakashvili to power.
"We have no other way out but to stand here until the end, until the Judas of Georgian politics resigns," former presidential challenger Levan Gachechiladze told the crowd. Speakers complained of government pressure on the media and judiciary, and criticised last year's lost war.

Others waved banners showing Mr Saakashvili with his alleged celebrity masseuse. Government officials have confirmed Mr Saakashvili has been treated for back problems, but the opposition claims the masseuse is a further example of the president's frivolity and decadence at a time of economic hardship.

"Today is referendum day in Georgia," said former UN ambassador Irakli Alasania, one of several senior figures to defect from Mr Saakashvili's inner circle, citing the president's serious errors of judgment.

Another former ally turned opponent, Nino Burjanadze, a potential presidential rival, said: "Georgians no longer trust him with anything."

Opposition to Mr Saakasvhili has accelerated since last year - when the president launched his ill-fated attempt to recapture the breakaway region of South Ossetia, triggering a punitive Russian invasion and the loss of more Georgian territory. There has also been a noticeable cooling of support towards his regime from the US and other key western backers.

Georgia's opposition, however, has its own failings. It has been frequently weak and divided, and has been unable to capitalise on Mr Saakashvili's alleged blunders. It also has no constitutional way of removing the president, who was re-elected for a second five-year term in 2008 and who made it clear yesterday he does not countenance stepping down.

"He keeps stubbornly saying he is going to stay," Zaza Gachechiladze, the editor-in-chief of Georgia's the Messenger newspaper, said yesterday.

irishtimes.com

Abkhazia reinforcing protection of border with Georgia

2009-04-09T13:26:00.000+04:00

Abkhazia has decided to reinforce protection of its border with Georgia, which will be done together with the Russian military contingent, the former Georgian republic's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

The ministry said the move was due to "the increasing threat of armed provocations on the part of Georgia" and the recent seizure by Georgia of a Turkish tanker heading from Sukhumi to Istanbul in neutral waters.

The ministry also said additional measures were being taken to improve air defense and ship navigation security.

Russia recognized Abkhazia and another former Georgia republic, South Ossetia, as independent states on August 26 last year after a five-day war with Georgia, which attacked South Ossetia to try to regain control of the region.

Abkhazia has since reported numerous border provocations by Georgia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia split from Georgia in the early 1990s, and most residents of both republics have had Russian citizenship for a number of years.

rian.ru

Protests expected in Georgia

2009-04-09T12:55:00.000+04:00

GEORGIA'S GROWING opposition movement has pledged to launch major protests against president Mikheil Saakashvili today, on the 20th anniversary of a bloody Soviet crackdown against pro-independence demonstrators.

Mr Saakashvili's domestic popularity and international reputation were badly damaged by his brutal handling of opposition rallies in late 2007, and last year's disastrous attempt to reclaim the separatist region of South Ossetia, which prompted a swift and devastating Russian invasion.
His travails galvanised a fractious opposition and prompted former close ally and ex-parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze to form a new political party and demand his resignation.

Ms Burjanadze was alongside Mr Saakashvili during the 2003 Rose Revolution, which ousted an old guard led by long-time president Eduard Shevardnadze, and she is now seen as his most serious rival.

Several activists from Ms Burjanadze's party have been arrested in recent weeks for allegedly trying to buy guns ahead of today's rally, and Mr Saakashvili's allies have accused her and other opposition figures of taking funding from Russia.

"Saakashvili is so afraid of our unity here and abroad that he's trying to discredit us in every possible way," Ms Burjanadze said. "We won't give up - we'll force him to resign."

Mr Shevardnadze also urged his successor to resign before today, when Georgians remember 20 people killed when Soviet troops broke up a 1989 rally in the capital, Tbilisi. Georgia is the West's main ally in a volatile Caucasus region that is a vital export route for Caspian Sea oil and gas.

irishtimes.com

Russia Plans to Construct Airport in S.Ossetia

2009-04-09T12:52:00.000+04:00

Experts from Russia's Design Institute have studied South Ossetia's landscape to select an area for construction of an airport, the breakaway region's envoy to Moscow, Dmitry Medoev, told Russia's online news agency, Regnum.

He said that an exact location of the planned airport has yet to be decided.

Regnum, however, reported, quoting its "sources" that a military airfield, not a civilian airport was planned to construct in the area of Achabeti and Kekhvi, two villages which were populated mainly by the ethnic Georgians and controlled by the Georgian authorities before the August war.

civil.ge

Georgia braces for mass rallies against Saakashvili

2009-04-09T12:48:00.002+04:00

War in August, when Russia crushed a Georgian assault on breakaway South Ossetia and sent tanks to within 40 km (25 miles) of Tbilisi, emboldened critics who argue the president has made too many mistakes to stay in power until 2013.
Opposition leaders, their ranks swollen by defectors, are predicting turnout of 150,000, and say protests will continue daily until Saakashvili, 41, resigns and calls elections.
Fire crews and hundreds of police in full riot gear entered the courtyard of the parliament in central Tbilisi overnight.
"We have set ourselves the goal of removing the incumbent illegitimate president from power and we will achieve this goal," opposition leader Salome Zurabishvili told reporters. "The rally will not disperse until Saakashvili resigns."

Analysts warn frustrations risk boiling over into unrest. They say they doubt the opposition's unity, its strength of leadership and the level of support it commands beyond Tbilisi.

ANNIVERSARY OF SOVIET CRACKDOWN

Many Georgians are tired of political bickering in the capital and are sympathetic to government calls for stability amid the global crisis, which the International Monetary Fund warns will have deeper impact in Georgia than first thought.

Some Georgians see Saakashvili as brash and impulsive, and question his handling of the war. But he draws support from the prevailing consensus in the country that Russia was to blame.
The West -- drawing oil and gas through Georgia from the Caspian Sea -- is watching for a possible repeat of a November 2007 crackdown, when police firing teargas and rubber bullets dispersed the last major demonstrations against Saakashvili.

Diplomats warn such scenes would be disastrous for Saakashvili's standing abroad.
His young, mainly Western-educated team came to power blessed by former U.S. President George W. Bush as a "beacon of liberty," but the light has faded and diplomats say Barack Obama's administration will be less forgiving.

Analysts warn opposition anticipation has been pumped so high that leaders might struggle to control hardliners.

The fear has been fed by the authorities, who last month said they had uncovered a plot to overthrow the government. Police arrested 10 men with suspected opposition links and released secretly filmed video of them apparently buying weapons.

The government says it suspects the hand of Russia. The opposition dismisses the allegations as a smear campaign.

Thursday's rally is timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of a deadly crackdown by Soviet troops in the twilight of the Soviet Union against Georgian protesters demanding independence for the republic of 4.5 million people.

Hundreds of Georgians laid red roses at the steps of the parliament on early on Thursday to remember the victims.

boston.com

Tbilisi's Illusion

2009-04-08T11:46:00.001+04:00

Several observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have placed blame for the August 2008 Georgia-Russia conflict in South Ossetia on Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who issued a secret order to invade the country. Russia responded to protect its de facto citizens, and Saakashvili turned to the United States for sympathy and military assistance.

If the current administration is determined to press the "reset" button with Russia, it must first press "refresh" with Georgia. On April 9, angered by Saakashvili's fatal mistake, which has damaged the small country's economy and left innocent women and children dead, the Georgian people plan to march in the streets of Tbilisi, demanding Saakashvili's resignation.

The opposition-a strong coalition which includes several well-known, pro-Western, English-speaking diplomats and politicians-plans to continue the rallies until Saakashvili steps down. If the United States is indeed committed to this fledgling democracy, it should recognize that Saakashvili's "Rose Revolution" has failed to bring the much needed changes to the Georgian people, who deserve our sympathy. The country is, in fact, crumbling from within, due to the president's mercurial nature, isolation, hubris and personal free-spending ways. Foreign investors have fled. The president has gone through six prime ministers in six years. Political prisoners rot in the filthy jails. The best and the brightest have escaped to other countries seeking political asylum and unemployment in Georgia is at the highest level in the Caucuses. "Now is not the time for chaos," the president announced.

But the country is on the brink. Saakashvili's clampdown on free media culminated with the suspension of the Georgian Times, the largest opposition paper. The editor made the decision after his son was pulled over in his car by armed government police and threatened.
"Why didn't they tell us there is a dictatorship in Georgia and stop creating the illusion that the country is a democracy," the editor, Malkhaz Gulashvili, was quoted as saying.

The illusion of democracy has been steadily supported by the U.S. State Department. Their emissary, Saakashvili's close friend Matthew Bryza, showed up at Tbilisi's Marriott Hotel last month to tell the opposition that the president would not step down until 2013, the end of his term. Later, he publicly apologized for trying to interfere in the country's "democratic" process.
Out of touch with his fellow countrymen and isolated within a small circle of supporters, Saakashvili has grown increasingly unstable. With no free media, Georgians are forced to listen to the voice of their president droning on for hours, nonstop, on television. The other night, he was trapped inside a Tbilisi restaurant with his bodyguards while angry protestors blocked his exit.

Georgians have so many reasons for wanting to get rid of Saakashvili that it's hard to say what will be the last straw.

When word leaked out that the president had pardoned the four government-connected men guilty of the 2006 brutal murder of twenty-eight-year-old Sandro Girgvliani, people were outraged. It has been the most notorious criminal case in modern Georgian history.
The young man was sitting in the Sharden Bar while a top official of Saakashvili's Interior Ministry held a birthday party. The wife of the official told her bodyguard Girgvliani had glanced at her. Later that evening, four men stuffed Girgvliani in the back of a car, drove off to an isolated area and beat him to death. His body was later found, naked.

The reaction to the murder was shock and anger, sparking public demonstrations. Reaction to the pardon has been harsh. Two members of parliament resigned in protest and the case is still pending before the European Court for Human Rights. The illusion of democracy has also caused well-respected former-leader of parliament (and former Saakashvili supporter) Nino Burjanadze to call for his resignation. In retaliation, the government arrested a number of citizens in her political party, accusing them of plotting an armed coup.

The Interior Ministry posted thirteen phony videos on the web, which Burjanadze called "absurd." "We won't give up," she told reporters this week. "We'll force him to resign." Georgians have waited long enough. They deserve more than an illusion.

nationalinterest.org

New gas pipeline to deprive Georgia of last possibility of pressure on S-Ossetia

2009-04-08T11:42:00.001+04:00

Georgia will lose the last opportunity to put pressure on South Ossetia with the commissioning of a gas pipeline from Russia, South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity said before a Tuesday meeting with Gazprom representatives.

"One the gas pipeline extension from the North Ossetian town of Dzuarikau becomes operational, our republic will stop receiving gas via Georgia. We will stop using this costly resource, and Tbilisi will lose the last opportunity to put pressure on South Ossetia," he said.
"Despite numerous violations and shortcomings on the part of the general contractor, the gas pipeline will be commissioned on schedule - in July 2009," Kokoity said.

Russian Deputy Regional Policy Minister Roman Panov said on Monday that South Ossetia would start to receive Russian gas this July.

"The construction of a new gas pipeline from the North Ossetian town of Dzuarikau to Tskhinvali began in December 2006. Gazprom is laying the pipeline from Dzuarikau to the Kudarsky Mountain Pass (over 90 kilometers), while Itera is laying the pipeline from the Mountain Pass to Tskhinvali (70.2 kilometers," he said. "The construction works are on schedule, and the gas pipeline will reach Tskhinvali in July."

A total of 152 million rubles were invested in the modernization of the South Ossetian gas distribution network in 2008.

itar-tass.com

Experts say Belarus to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia in May-June

2009-04-07T11:12:00.000+04:00

Analysts say that in the next few months Belarusian authorities are to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and so far Alyaksandr Lukashenka is temporizing because of the Eastern Partnership program.

Belarus is playing for time with recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but sooner or later, in May or June, and it will do it, polit.ru was told by the leading researcher the Institute for international economic and political studies of the Russian Academy of Science Aleksey Shurubovich.

"The parliament" of Belarus hasn't included in the agenda the issue of South Ossetia and Abkhazia's recognition, though Alyaksandar Lukashenka personally promised to Dmitry Medvedev that the parliament would adopt a decision on this issue.

As said by Aleksey Shurubovich, though the issue of Abkhazia and South Ossetia's recognition hasn't been included in the agenda of the session of the "parliament", it is being discussed in the international affairs and the CIS relations commission of the "parliament".

"It could be said that no top level decision has been adopted. Lukashenka does not think this recognition is possible so far," he said.

The expert believes that it is connected with Belarus' inclusion in the Eastern partnership program, which is to be officially launched in May.

"It is possible that the Belarusian leadership is simply temporizing as the European Union leadership had warned Belarus that in case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia's recognition its membership would be doubtful," Shurubovich explained.

But another variant is possible: "By refusing to offer a 100 billion loan to Belarus, Russia has given Lukashenka a handle to postpone recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia".
However the expert believes that "sooner or later Belarus is to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but it will be still temporizing," "it could happen perhaps in May, or in June, but it is to do it one way or another".

charter97.org

Bagapsh believes Lukashenko will recognize Abkhazia

2009-04-06T13:04:00.000+04:00

Abkhazian president Sergei Bagapsh says recognition of Abkhazia's independence is inevitable.
"Recognition of independence by the world community is an inevitable process, we will never return to former political and economic order," the president of the breakaway republic said, GHN agency reports.

The politician added that if earlier European commissioners were trying to convince Abkhazia to establish diplomatic relations with Georgia, now they are talking about security of civilians in the near-border regions and activities of European humanitarian organizations in Abkhazia.
"There are grounds to hope Belarus will support our independence by the end of the year," Sergei Bagapsh said.

It should be reminded that independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia has been recognized only by Russia and Nicaragua so far. Representatives of a number of states, including Alyaksandr Lukashenko, but none of them have officially recognized the republics.
The European Union repeatedly said a decision on development of the dialogue between Europe and official Minsk would depend in particular on the treatment of the issue of recognition of the break-away republics situated on the territory of Georgia.

Alyaksandr Lukashenko has had a personal meeting with Sergei Bagapsh in Sochi.

charter97.org

NATO urges RF to revise decision on independence of S Ossetia/Abkhazia

2009-04-06T12:47:00.001+04:00

NATO says Russia has not ended the withdrawal of its troops from the territory of Georgia, according to a final declaration adopted at the NATO summit on Saturday.

The alliance also continues to call on Russia to revise its decision on the recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

itar-tass.com

Russia warns US on Georgia

2009-04-03T15:31:00.002+04:00

Russia sent a strong warning to the United States Thursday about supporting Georgia in the U.S. ally's efforts to rebuild its military following last year's war.

The Foreign Ministry said helping arm Georgia would be "extremely dangerous" and would amount to "nothing but the encouragement of the aggressor."

The warning comes days after Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili stridently vowed to rebuild and prepare his armed forces for missions other than peacekeeping - comments made alongside a top U.S. general.

It also follows Wednesday's first meeting between Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, where the two leaders tried to mend serious differences that have plagued ties in recent years - including over last year's war in Georgia.

The brief war helped send relations between Moscow and Washington to Cold War lows, as the Russians routed the Georgian army and humiliated Saakashvili.

The Georgian leader has since repeatedly vowed to rebuild his forces. On Monday, Saakashvili told visiting Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, that the country would build "modern, significantly higher quality, significantly stronger armed forces."
The forces "have been trained for peacekeeping operations. Now we are preparing qualitatively different armed forces. Let no one have any illusions," he told Cartwright.

The meeting prompted two days of harsh reports on Russian state-run TV, with one anchor calling Saakashvili's announcements "strange," among other things.

The war "proved that it would be extremely dangerous for neighbors, the entire region and Georgia itself to arm the incumbent Georgian administration," ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.

"Hopefully, the United States, Ukraine and other countries, which regard themselves as responsible international participants, will take that into account in their policies."
Washington found a staunch ally in Saakashvili, giving military and economic aid to Georgia for years, sending military instructors to train Georgian troops and backing its bid to join NATO.
That has worried Moscow, which considers Georgia part of its historical sphere of influence and which fears a greater U.S. presence in the former Soviet Caucasus or Central Asia.

At their first meeting in London Wednesday, Obama and Medvedev discussed the situation in the South Caucasus. U.S. officials said Obama told Medvedev that the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia - both of which are backed by Russia - would never be recognized as independent by the United States.

Russian troops have remained in part of Abkhazia and Georgia, and Moscow plans on building bases there.

On Thursday, meanwhile, Saakashvili welcomed a visiting U.S. missile frigate - the USS Klakring - to the port of Batumi, saying he had been assured that the Obama administration fully supported him.

"Georgia needs strong allies. Georgia needs the hands of friends for the resolution of further problems," he said. "In this matter, in particular after yesterday's meeting in London, I can practically exclude any Russian military adventures in the future - and Georgia will not be happy until it is free of occupation."

Associated Press

Medvedev says he would talk to next Georgian leader

2009-04-03T15:25:00.000+04:00

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reiterated on Thursday that he would never talk to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, but said he would gladly talk to any elected successor.
Last August, Russia sent troops to Georgia to repel the ex-Soviet republic's attempt to restore its control over the pro-Moscow breakaway province of South Ossetia. Despite Western protests, Russia subsequently recognised South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states.

Saakashvili, who seeks to end Georgia's dependence on Russia and make it a member of the Western NATO alliance and the European Union, accused Russia of setting out to destroy Georgia's territorial integrity.

Medvedev told students at the London School of Economics:
"We want to have good relations with Georgia, but I do not want to have any relations with President Saakashvili and will not deal with him. "But if the authorities change sooner or later, as part of a democratic process, we are ready to discuss any themes with them."Medvedev, answering a question by a Georgian student, said Russia was not to blame for the conflict.
"The Georgian authorities are to blame for everything that happened," Medvedev said. "When I became president, I met Saakashvili and said we are ready to help restore territorial integrity, but he has to behave correctly."

"Warfare never helped to strengthen the state," he added. Georgia is a major element souring Russia's relations with the West and specifically with the United States, which backed Georgia in the conflict.

Medvedev has agreed to "press a reset button" on bilateral relations with new U.S. President Barack Obama, whom he met for the first time on Wednesday on the sidelines of a G20 conference of leading and emerging economies in London. The declaration signed by Medvedev and Obama in London said they continued to disagree over Georgia, but would work together to restore stability in the South Caucasus.

reuters.com

Moscow hosts new round of talks on Russia-EU deal

2009-04-03T13:18:00.000+04:00

A new round of talks on a comprehensive Russia-EU partnership deal opens in Moscow on Friday.

The agreement would replace the 1997 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which was extended for a year when it expired in December 2007. Talks on a new deal have been repeatedly delayed, initially by Poland and Lithuania and most recently over Russia's August conflict with Georgia over South Ossetia.

Marc Franco, chief of the European Commission in Russia, earlier told RIA Novosti that negotiators, headed by EC director general of external relations Eneko Landaburu and Russia's European Union envoy Vladimir Chizhov, would meet on Friday to assess the results of the activities of working groups.

He also said that Moscow and Brussels had made progress in their attempts to find a common position on the format and content of the document, and that working groups were now focusing on the deal's more detailed points.

The diplomat said that while progress was being made, this did not mean that there was complete mutual understanding on all aspects of the deal, in particular human rights. He also added that the energy aspects of the agreement were important for both sides, but that it was unclear how the issue would be worded in the final document.

He also stressed that Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) was essential for an understanding of many aspects of the final agreement. Russia is the largest economy outside the global trade body.

Russia also linked the partnership deal to its prospective WTO membership.
"If Russia is a member of the WTO when we round off our talks, then that will be quite a different situation from if it is not," Chizhov earlier told RIA Novosti. Chizhov said approximately one-third of the current Russia-EU agreement covered issues regulated by WTO norms.

He also said he was satisfied with how the talks on the new deal were progressing.
"If we are talking about substance, then we are already close to being able to start the business of writing its text," he said, adding that while the sides still had differences over the final wording of the agreement, "the ground had been laid."

A decision to resume negotiations was made at the Russia-EU summit in Nice on November 14, despite objections from Lithuania.

rian.ru

Belarusian "deputies" assess consequences of South Ossetia and Abkhazia's recognition

2009-04-02T18:06:00.002+04:00

The issue of recognition of break-away republics South Ossetia and Abkhazia has not yet been included in the agenda of the session of the "chamber of representatives" which opened today, but it is considered by the commission.

It has been stated by journalists of the "chamber of representatives" of the "national assembly" Uladzimir Andreichanko.

"We have received requests for recognition of these republics. We should study their economic and political consequences," Andreichanko stated.

The speaker noted that petitions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are received by the commission on international affairs of the lower chamber. Answering the question whether an address with an alternative request had been received, not to recognize independence of these republics, Andreichanko said he didn't see such requests.

To the additional question whether it would be possible that the recognition of the two break-away republics would still be considered at spring session, Andreichanko said:
"We all live by hopes. It would be difficult to live otherwise. Let's hope".

As we have informed, independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia has been recognized only by Russia and Nicaragua. Representatives of a number of countries including Alyaksandr Lukashenko stated their support to Russia in the issue of recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia; however none of them recognized independence of the republics officially.
The European Union many times stated that the decision on development of the dialogue between Europe and the official Minsk would depend in particular on the treatment of the issue of recognition of the break-away republics situated on the territory of Georgia.
In the end of January 2009 the head of the South Ossetia Eduard Kokojty stated to "Komsomolskaya Pravda":

"Lukashenko says that he is to keep his word; that the recognition is to take place in the near future. We talked informally during the funeral ceremony of Alexiy II: me, Bagapsh and Lukashenko".

charter97.org

Russia urges OSCE monitoring missions in S.Ossetia, Georgia

2009-04-02T17:54:00.001+04:00

Russia's envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Thursday Russia supported a monitoring mission on both sides of the Georgian-South Ossetian border.

"We are proposing establishing two independent groups of observers in the region," Anvar Azimov told a session of the OSCE Standing Council.

He said that the first group of 20 monitors should continue its activities in Georgian territories, adjacent to South Ossetia. The second group, comprising eight monitors, would be deployed in border regions along the former Georgian republic.

"Naturally, the two groups should receive a mandate from both Tbilisi and Tskhinval," Azimov said.

He added that Russia's stance on security issues in South Caucasus was "abundantly clear."
"Maintaining secure stability in the region is impossible without an agreement on the non-use of force, coordination of a security regime along Gerogia's borders with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and an embargo on supplies of offensive weapons to Georgia," the Russian diplomat said.

The OSCE mission had a presence in South Ossetia until Georgia's attack on its former republic in August. The organization stated its desire to reinstate its monitors in South Ossetia after the ensuing five-day Georgia-Russia war, but was denied permission by the South Ossetians, who accused the OSCE of failing to prevent the Georgian attack.

The Georgian offensive on South Ossetia led to a Russian military response to "force Georgia to peace." Two weeks after the end of this operation, Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another rebel republic, as independent states. So far, only Nicaragua has followed suit.

rian.ru

Ex-Georgia leader says Saakashvili should resign

2009-04-01T17:28:00.002+04:00

Former Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze joined opposition calls on Monday for President Mikheil Saakashvili -- who ousted Shevardnadze in the ex-Soviet state's 2003 "Rose Revolution" -- to resign. The opposition plans rallies beginning on April 9 to demand Saakashvili go, accusing him of betraying promises to consolidate democracy in the Caucasus state and of walking into a disastrous war with neighboring Russia last year.

"If I was in his place, I would resign," 81-year-old Shevardnadze told reporters at his hillside residence in the capital, Tbilisi.
"If the protest on April 9 brings out 100,000 people or more, and they demand Saakashvili's resignation, then I believe the president should not oppose the people but should be firm and resign."
Saakashvili's second term expires in 2013.

Analysts predict tens of thousands will take to the streets on April 9, but some might stay away after police said last week they had uncovered a plot to ignite violence during the protests. The opposition denies any such plan.

It took thousands of demonstrators weeks of standing in the streets in November 2003 to force Shevardnadze's resignation following parliamentary elections widely condemned as rigged. For more than a decade, the former Soviet foreign minister presided over a government accused of rampant corruption. The climax came when Saakashvili charged into parliament clutching a rose and yelling "Resign!" at Shevardnadze.

Backed by the West, Saakashvili's government is credited with liberalizing the economy and attracting much-needed foreign investment to the country of 4.5 million people.
But opponents fault his record on democracy and media freedom. The criticism has deepened since a five-day war with Russia last August, when Moscow crushed a Georgian assault on breakaway South Ossetia. Saakashvili called on Saturday for dialogue with the opposition, but warned he would not tolerate unrest. "Now is not the time for chaos and wrangling, but for unity," he said.

reuters.com

Commentary: Georgia poised for an unstable spring

2009-04-01T13:04:00.002+04:00

Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili's attempt to enjoy a leisurely dinner at a Japanese restaurant recently here in the capital turned into a noisy demonstration, with shouts of "Misha, go away," and "Misha - to prison" as he tried to enjoy his meal. And it may soon get much noisier for the embattled president. The opposition has declared April 9, the 20th anniversary of a brutal crackdown by Soviet forces on demonstrators in the Georgian capital, as the date for a large-scale protest to demand Saakashvili's resignation.

"April 9, 2009, will become a Rubicon: it's either Georgia, or this brigand-like Saakashvili regime," said Giorgi Khaindrava, former minister for resolution of conflicts and now an outspoken opponent of the Georgian president. "The entire world is waiting for the day when Georgian society, by dint of constitutional means, will make Saakashvili step down," he said.

Calls for the Georgian president to step aside and call an early presidential vote have grown louder since the disastrous conflict with Russia last August over the region of South Ossetia.
The government that pitched the country into such a debacle has forfeited its moral right to rule, opposition activists say. Saakashvili, whose current term expires in 2013, has so far dismissed calls for early elections as totally unacceptable.

He said his opponents' time would be better spent worrying about "what people have in their refrigerators" than in plotting to remove him from office. "Our priorities are to ensure security and the economic development of the country, and a new election and referendum would be a hindrance," said Akaki Minashvili, chairman of parliament's committee for foreign relations.

Still, the opposition has been busy trying to build support for the protest. Members of the United Opposition movement claim they have already collected nearly 50,000 signatures from residents of the capital who pledged to participate in the demonstration.
"The opposition is making really serious preparations; the president of Georgia can't imagine how hard the blow it is going to deliver him will be," Khaindrava, the former government minister said.

Nino Burjanadze, the former speaker of the Georgian parliament who has founded her own opposition group, said she intends to take active part in the April 9 rally. If Saakashvili does not step down on his own, Burjanadze said, "the people will oust him in a peaceful, constitutional way." Adding to the serious of the planned protest, there are reports that Irakli Okruashvili, a former ally of Saakashvili who held numerous ministerial posts in the president's government, has vowed to return from political exile in France and join the protest.
For now, the opposition's main challenge appears to be getting its message across. Unlike previous demonstrations, there are no mass media outlets in the hands of Saakashvili 's opponents that can rally public support.

The sole exception is Giorgi Gachechiladze, the brother of opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze, who has been broadcasting on a local television station since mid-January and insists he won't leave the studio until Saakashvili steps down. Observers say it too soon to say whether the opposition will be able to gather enough support to threaten Saakashvili's grip on power.

"Saakashvili, once he becomes obstinate, is not someone you can easily make resign," said political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze. Archil Gegeshidze, another political observer, agreed."If there is no coordination and consultations among the opposition, they won't be able to bring protests to the boil," he said.

www.mcclatchydc.com

Russia, NATO move toward dialogue

2009-04-01T12:57:00.000+04:00

Russia welcomes NATO's lean toward the negotiation table, saying it is ready to resume full-scale dialogue with the military alliance. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who was in Germany on Tuesday ahead of the G20 summit in London, said "We are glad that common sense has prevailed. We are ready [to resume dialog]."

"The full-format dialogue through the Russia-NATO Council will be resumed soon. On the whole we welcome what is going on," Medvedev said at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Russian leader recalled NATO's unilateral suspension of diplomatic ties with Moscow over Russia's brief war with Georgia last August. He stressed that it was not a Russian initiative and that his country had never called for these relations to be restricted.

On August 7, the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi launched a huge offensive against South Ossetia in a bid to regain control of its one-time province -- which along with Abkhazia had declared independence from Georgian rule in the wake of the former Soviet Union's disintegration in the 1990s. Moscow, which has recognized both South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent republics, did not tolerate the military deployment in the Caucasus -- its backyard -- and sent its military to parry the attack.

Russian troops went as far as penetrating inside the Georgian border and capturing the strategic town of Gori -- just 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Tbilisi -- before they finally withdrew under a European-mediated ceasefire and mounting pressure from the West. NATO described as 'disproportionate' the Russian military intervention in support of South Ossetia -- whose residents mostly had Russian citizenship.

The alliance later condemned the Kremlin's decision to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independence states and unilaterally suspended the work of the Russia-NATO Council.
Back in December, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement hailed a NATO decision to resume a 'conditional and graduated' dialogue with Moscow. Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, recently said the work of the Russia-NATO Council could resume in March, expressing hope that the two had left the 'period of estrangement' behind them.

pressir.ir

Georgian opposition leader pledges to prevent violence at protests

2009-03-31T13:21:00.002+04:00

A Georgian opposition leader pledged on Tuesday to try to prevent mass disorder from breaking out during upcoming protests to demand President Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation. A total of 14 Georgian opposition parties have said they will take part in the rallies, scheduled to begin on April 9. "Everything necessary must be done to avoid shooting or any other violence," Nino Burdzhanadze, who heads the opposition For a United Georgia party, said in an interview with the Russian business daily Kommersant. "But nothing can be ruled out, especially with such a government."

Burdzhanadze also said however that there was a chance that despite her efforts, violence could erupt at the protests. "This danger exists. But if you are afraid of wolves, you should keep out of the forest." When asked if the protests could lead to the start of civil war in the former Soviet republic, Burdzhanadze, who is also the parliamentary speaker, said, "I hope this will not happen, and I will do anything to prevent it."

"Civil war should be prevented, as well as any military scenario - the country will not be able to cope with it," she said. Saakashvili has seen his popularity steadily decline since last August's conflict with Russia, which was followed by Moscow's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, republics that had been de facto independent from Tbilisi since the early 1990s. Last November, around 10,000 protesters gathered on the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, to demonstrate both against Saakashvili's rule and his decision to drag the country into a costly war that it had little chance of winning.

"The absolute majority dislikes Saakashvili," Burdzhanadze said. "While Saakashvili is in power, there is no guarantee that Georgia will not lose a few more regions." Several opposition activists, including 10 members of Burdzhanadze's party, were recently arrested on suspicion of illegally buying firearms ahead of the protests. Burdzhanadze however called the arrests "mudslinging" that the majority of people did not believe in.

She also said that the only negotiations she was willing to enter into with Saakashvili were "about the president's resignation." "Talks can only be held on how to make his resignation as painless as possible for the country," she added. A year prior to the anti-war protests, Georgia was rocked by opposition rallies for six days as protestors occupied central Tbilisi demanding Saakashvili's resignation over allegations of corruption and increasing authoritarianism. The Georgian leader responded by sending in riot police to crack down on protestors on November 7. Over 500 people were injured, according to the U.S. rights group, Human Rights Watch, as police used rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons to break up the demonstrations.

Saakashvili subsequently called early elections for January 2008 and was reelected with 53% of the vote.

rian.ru

Georgian president vows to build strong, modern army

2009-03-31T13:18:00.000+04:00

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has pledged to build new and stronger armed forces in the light of the recent military conflict with Russia.

Georgia's military suffered a major defeat in a five-day war with Russia in August last year after attempting to regain its breakaway region of South Ossetia. Georgia reportedly lost up to 3,000 servicemen and police in the conflict although Tbilisi confirmed only about 70 deaths.

"This time we are going to build modern, significantly higher quality, significantly stronger armed forces, and no one should have any illusions about that," Saakashvili told reporters late on Monday after a meeting with Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Georgia signed in January a strategic partnership treaty with the United States, which has long provided economic and military support for Tbilisi, including training its troops.

Saakashvili said that previous U.S. training programs were limited to training peacekeepers, rather than prepared the Georgian military for full-scale military operations, and expressed hope that Washington would provide stronger support to Tbilisi in developing its military.
"After signing the treaty Georgia and the U.S. have entered a new stage of military and political cooperation," he said.

Georgia lost control of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in bloody post-Soviet conflicts in the early 1990s. The two republics, bolstered by Russian peacekeepers, have had de facto independence since then, and have been a bone of contention between Georgia and Russia.

Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states on August 26, two weeks after the war with Georgia, triggered by Tbilisi's attack on South Ossetia.

rian.ru

Georgia-Russia:PACE President welcomes dialogue instituted between delegations of the two countries

2009-03-31T12:54:00.001+04:00

At the close of a meeting of the Ad hoc Committee of the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Valencia (Spain) on March 30, its President, Lluís Maria de Puig, welcomed the dialogue that had been instituted between the Georgian and Russian delegations.

"Today we have succeeded in bringing representatives of the Georgian and Russian delegations together round a table. To me, their participation is a sign that they are in favour of the principle of dialogue and believe that our Assembly can play a positive and constructive role in this respect," he said.

"Despite the substantive differences that persist between the two delegations, which were again set forth at the meeting, we discussed drawing up a road map and a list of priority issues acceptable to both delegations. In particular, we agreed that the well-being of the Abkhaz and South Ossetian communities should be at the heart of our discussions.

This means preventing their becoming isolated, taking confidence-building steps and tackling such issues as free access to these territories for NGOs, the distribution of humanitarian aid and assistance with reconstruction. We therefore decided to involve representatives of the Abkhaz and South Ossetian communities in our next meeting, which will take place in Strasbourg on the occasion of the spring Session from 27 to 30 April," added Mr de Puig.

"The meeting follows on from the so-called 'parliamentary diplomacy' efforts of PACE Any agreement - even on an initial detail - is a big step forward that makes it possible to create new opportunities and establish momentum in favour of dialogue," he concluded.

finchannel.com

Olympius Inferno: Movie on war in South Ossetia hits Russian screen

2009-03-30T13:00:00.003+04:00

Last August it was played out on the battlefields of South Ossetia - and now it will be played out on screen. Russia is releasing a film adaptation of last summer's dramatic events in the Caucasus. The events of last August in South Ossetia dominated world news, and now they've made it to the big screen for the first time.

The ‘Olympius Inferno' movie tells a story of a young scientist searching for a unique butterfly he hopes to film. Instead, he ends up shooting pictures of a very different kind - the first scenes of Georgia's military action against South Ossetia. He could have escaped and saved himself - but instead he tries to get the footage to the international media to let everyone know the truth.

"Some wise man said that the devil is the father of lies. So this movie is in fact about lies taking over the society and young people trying to fight it," says ‘Olympius Inferno' director Igor Voloshin.

The Georgian ‘blitzkrieg' lasted only five days but resulted in numerous casualties and serious political tension.

Just like the main character in ‘Olympius Inferno,' RT's cameraman Aleksandr Zhukov happened to be filming in the region at the time - only to find himself in the epicentre of a war-zone.

But he was shocked to see his pictures ending up in the western media and telling a story far from the truth.

"I didn't feel like my colleagues inside the war zone were lying to each other or to the viewers. But when I saw pictures which I shot when Tskhinval was bombed shown on CNN, posed as if Russia bombed the Georgian city of Gori, I knew, that was a lie," Aleksandr Zhukov says.
Young Russian film-star Polina Filonenko plays the main character's accomplice in the ‘Olympius Inferno'. She says she took on the role to help the truth be told.

"When the war started, my cousin came to my home in St. Petersburg from Germany and said - why did your country start the war? I said - no, we didn't. She looked to me as if I was lying. But later she and the whole Europe learned the truth. I talked to people in South Ossetia who suffered in that war and I know what really happened there," Polina explains.
Even before hitting the big screen, ‘Olympius Inferno' has been criticised and labeled as propaganda. But the movie's director is untroubled.

"I don't expect everyone to like this movie. But I know for sure what those people in South Ossetia who lost their homes and relatives will feel after watching it. This movie is for them," Igor Voloshin says.

It's a view Polina Filonenko shares as well. She believes that while the movie may not become a box-office blockbuster, it delivers a clear message - that humans must remain humans even in war.

'Olympius Inferno' may be the first movie about the war still felt today, but will certainly not be the last. Emir Kusturica - the famous Oscar-nominated Serbian director - is planning another one to come out later this year.

RT.com

Georgia's Saakashvili warns opposition over unrest

2009-03-30T12:55:00.000+04:00

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has called for dialogue with the opposition but warned it against trying to force his overthrow in anti-government protests next month.

The pro-Western president has come under increasing pressure since the former Soviet state's disastrous defeat by Russia in a five-day war last year. The opposition is demanding he resign.
Police last week arrested 10 men and said they had uncovered a plot to ignite unrest during opposition rallies due to begin on April 9.

"This is no time for radicalism, this is a time for dialogue," Saakashvili said late on Saturday. "Now is not the time for wrangling, but for unity."

For days, pro-government television stations have been airing secretly filmed police video of the suspects, alleged to have links to the opposition, buying automatic weapons and discussing plans to take on security forces in Tbilisi.

The opposition denies planning armed unrest, and has accused the authorities of a smear campaign.

Criticism of Saakashvili's record on democracy since coming to power in the peaceful 2003 "Rose Revolution" has deepened since Russia crushed a Georgian assault on the breakaway region of South Ossetia last August.

Tensions around South Ossetia remain high. A Georgian police officer was killed yesterday near the de facto border zone in what police said was a landmine blast.

gulf-times.com

Georgia: officer killed near South Ossetia

2009-03-30T12:53:00.000+04:00

Georgian authorities say a mine explosion hit a police vehicle near the separatist region of South Ossetia killing one policeman and wounding four others.

Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili says the blast occurred on Sunday morning near the village of Dvani.

South Ossetia was the flashpoint of the August war between Georgia and Russia. Georgian troops were driven out of South Ossetia, and another separatist province, Abkhazia.
Russia recognized both regions' independence and has placed large troop contingents there. Since then, sporadic violence has been reported in Georgian areas next to the provinces.

hindu.com

Sergei Shukno does not rule out Abkhazia and S.Ossetia's accession into Union State

2009-03-27T11:57:00.000+03:00

South Ossetia and Abkhazia might join the Belarus-Russia Union State, Deputy State Secretary of the Union State Sergei Shukhno told reporters in Minsk on March 26.

According to him, the Union State Treaty provides for a possibility to admit new members. Yet, for the Caucasian republics to join the Union State, they need to be recognized by Belarus first.
"So far the Union State has not received official membership applications from the governments of Abkhazia and South Ossetia," Sergei Shukno said.

law.by

Russia prepares request for Georgia to extradite army deserter

2009-03-26T16:49:00.000+03:00

Russia is preparing a request for Georgia to extradite a Russian soldier who fled his military unit in South Ossetia in January, but has not yet filed the order, a military investigator said on Thursday.

Lt. Gen. Alexander Sorochkin, head of the Military Investigation Department at Russia's Investigation Committee, said at a press conference on Thursday that an extradition order was being prepared for Jr. Sgt. Alexander Glukhov, who is facing charges for desertion.
"Russia has so far not demanded his [Glukhov's] extradition, but this is being looked into," Sorochkin said.

Glukhov left his unit in South Ossetia in late January and approached Georgian police, requesting asylum. He said his actions should not be seen as politically motivated, as he would have done the same had his army unit been deployed near any other foreign border.
Chief military prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky said last week that Russia would send Georgia an extradition request for Glukhov in the near future. "We will ask for him to be returned to us," Fridinsky said.

Georgia said earlier that Glukhov had requested political asylum. Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Shota Utiashvili also said Tbilisi would not hand him over to Russia until consideration of his asylum request had been completed.

The Russian Defense Ministry has said Glukhov was seized by Georgian special services and forcibly taken to Tbilisi, where he was subjected to moral or physical pressure. However, Glukhov has denied being put under any pressure, saying he had fled because of intolerable conditions in his unit.

Under Russian law, desertion is punishable by up to seven years in prison, but a first-time offender who has deserted without his weapon, on his own, or with a serious reason for his action, may be exempted from punishment.

rian.ru

South Ossetia Accuses Georgia Of Shelling Village

2009-03-26T16:39:00.000+03:00

The leadership of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia has accused Tbilisi of launching repeated attacks against a border village, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.South Ossetia's Interior Ministry says Georgian military force have constantly fired on the village of Mugut, near the Georgian border.

According to the ministry, Georgian troops this week attacked Russian military strongholds in the village using gunfire and grenades.

No casualities were reported.A spokesman for Georgia's Interior Ministry, Shota Utiashvili, told RFE/RL that South Ossetia's claims are groundless.

Utiashvili noted that EU monitors have not reported any incidents.

Utiashvili also said South Ossetia's current and previous claims about Georgian attacks were made to "mislead the international community and create an informational background for the resumption of Russia's aggression against Georgia."

rferl.org

Russia claims proof Georgia used cluster weapons

2009-03-26T16:25:00.002+03:00

Russian investigators say they have evidence that the Georgian military used cluster munitions against civilians in South Ossetia in August 2008. The Georgians earlier said they only targeted Russian troops.

The news of the evidence comes from the spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's Office, Vladimir Markin. The ITAR TASS news agency reports that Markin said numerous fragments of rockets with cluster heads have been found in the Ossetian village of Pris after shelling by the Georgian forces.

Markin also said Georgia used heavy aviation bombs, as two 500-killogram bombs had been defused by Russian combat engineers. The official was summing up the committee's probe into alleged war crimes by the Georgian military in South Ossetia. He said all the materials of the investigation will be sent to international criminal prosecution bodies.

"We plan to file to international criminal agencies evidence to seek the prosecution of some of the Georgian leaders guilty of genocide and mass slaughter of Russian citizens and peace keepers in South Ossetia," Markin said.

Earlier, both Moscow and Tbilisi accused each other of using the controversial weapons during the conflict in August. The allegations were supported by independent investigators, including Human Rights Watch. Russia denied the use of cluster bombs. Deputy Head of General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsin, who briefed the media in the times of hostilities, said ‘there was not need' to do it. Georgia admitted it used cluster munitions, but said civilian objectives were never targeted.

The five-day war in South Ossetia started on August, 8, 2008, when Georgian troops launched an offensive against it's breakaway region. Russian peacekeepers stationed there were killed by an attack on their headquarters before Russia sent its troops and repelled the Georgians. South Ossetia was recognised as an independent nation by Russia following the EU-brokered peace settlement.

Cluster munitions are highly efficient against unprotected manpower. A cluster shell or bomb has up to several hundred individual elements, which are spread over a large area before exploding. However, some of them fail to trigger and can wound or kill people for years after if disturbed, posing great danger to the civilian population. The use of cluster weapons is also highly indiscriminate.

An international convention banning the use of cluster weapons was signed by over 90 countries in Oslo in 2008. Neither Russia nor Georgia was among them. Ossetians still fear 8 months laterClaudia Pukhaeva is no stranger to the sounds of battle. The 68-year-old woman has had her home destroyed by bombing twice.

In 2008, she says, Georgian troops, which in August 2008 were stationed several hundred metres away from her place, shelled her village and totaled her house for the second time.
"We were totally blind with fear. They wanted to destroy us, the little helpless Ossetia. My brother had a daughter. She was 20-years-old and into her third month of pregnancy. The Georgians killed her," Claudia recalls with sorrow.

There's no single building intact in the village now, and it is hard to overestimate the loss.
On the edge of Claudia's village, there still is one of the notorious Grad rocket shells, which completely leveled one house and severely damaged the other.

Since August 2008, more than 3,000 Ossetians have applied to the European Human Rights Court alleging Georgia violated their human rights. But those behind the killings are still on the loose.

Meanwhile, for the people in South Ossetia, life goes on, but there is an underlying fear that the horrific events of last August could easily be repeated. "Of course, it's horrible. Of course, we're afraid. Rumors have it today that the Georgians are preparing for another war," says Claudia's neighbor Zamira Gigolaeva. Zamira admits they often hear sounds of gunfire and explosions at nights.

russiatoday.com

A Black and White War

2009-03-25T14:19:00.000+03:00

Suggesting that the Russian Military Action in Georgia Last Year Was not a Glorious Military Success Does Not Imply Support for Mikheil Saakashvili

Even though some eight months have passed since Russia’s war with Georgia over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia in August of last year, both parties are still feeling its consequences, and remain very sensitive to interpretations of these events that appear in the media. While the Russians continue blaming the Georgians’ aggression (and even made a movie about it), the Georgians insist that they have fallen victim a bully. Anyone who believes the truth to be somewhere in between is said to belong to the enemy camp.

Russian viewers will be treated to the first film about the South Ossetia war on the weekend, “Olympus Inferno,” which promises from the trailer and the director’s comments to be a high-octane action movie that shows that Georgia started last year’s war.

From watching the trailer, my first thought isn’t geopolitical, it’s “why on earth did they bother to cast someone in the role of an American biologist who speaks English, only to dub him back into Russian?” One of the lead protagonists of Olympus Inferno is an American scientist who happens to be in South Ossetia researching a rare species of butterfly. If Russians really can’t bear to read a subtitle, then I don’t know why they didn’t just have him speak Russian with a dodgy accent. If Hollywood needs a Nazi, they tend to use someone speaking English with a German (or British) accent – surely this is a better option than casting someone to speak English and then dubbing them back.

Anyway, now that that important point is out of the way, the political message of the film is obviously going to be quite important too. The repercussions of last summer’s war are still being felt in both Russia and Georgia. The Russian media have been carrying reports that Russian draftee soldiers were not paid for their time serving in South Ossetia. Meanwhile, protests coming up on April 9 in Georgia are clearly going to be very dangerous for Mikheil Saakashvili’s government, and some highly suspicious arrests of the opposition have been going on in recent days that might seem more suited to neighbouring countries like Azerbaijan.

The problem with the war, even now, is that attitudes toward it are so polarised. Probably nothing has done more to convince many Russians that the Western media are anti-Russian; meanwhile the one-sidedness of Russia Today or other Russian channels on the conflict leaves me feeling queasy.

But contrary to what many Russians seem to think, suggesting that Russia may not have covered itself in glory in South Ossetia doesn’t imply support for Saakashvili. I’ve always been a bit of a sceptic of Saakashvili, and it’s true that a lot of the Western reporting on Georgia before last summer was rather naive and tended to take all the noble words the Georgian president said about democracy and neo-imperialism at face value, while ignoring some of the less savoury aspects of his regime. But I think that since the war, the Western media – or the printed media at least – have struck a reasonable balance, reporting on the atrocities that were carried out by Ossetians under the eyes of Russian troops, covering various pieces of evidence that suggest that Russia was looking to provoke a conflict all along, while at the same time accepting that Georgia was responsible for sparking the war and waking up about the real nature of Saakashvili’s regime.

Yet still I hear from irritated Russians that the Western media got the war “wrong” – portraying Russia as neo-imperialist invaders. The idea seems to be that all reporting should be fitted into a George Bush style dichotomy of with-us-or-against-us. If Russia is criticized, this somehow implies Saakashvili loving. At the same time, Russians are so pleased that Saakashvili turned out to be everything they had warned the West about in the first place that there is no space for introspection about how their own army fought.

So while the Russians go ahead with the propaganda film (and the episode in the trailer where a wild-eyed Georgian soldier is running with a cocked pistol and screaming madly suggests it will certainly be propaganda), and the Georgians continue to cry about their scary imperialist neighbour and claim that last year’s war was a brave defensive response to invasion of their territory, sensible outside observers will surely continue to ignore both dodgy versions of events. As so often in international relations, the truth is surely that both sides behaved appallingly. Last year’s war was rather like an obnoxious little kid picking a fight with the school bully and getting crushed. That the bully had been behaving badly before doesn’t make the kid any less obnoxious, and vice versa.

russiaprofile.org

Thought experiment #1

2009-03-25T13:44:00.001+03:00

I've copypasted this abstract from here. Interesting point of veiw to my mind.

"My friend Peter Voskamp sent me this thought experiment:
I was reading something today about the Russian incursion into Georgia last August and it got me to thinking: remember the almost universal outrage aimed at those murderous Russians, blamed for their disproportionate reaction in Georgia-- their over-the-top use of force.... Why, the Americans should've replied militarily...

Yes, the Russians did these things. But Georgia shelled-- SHELLED with heavy artillery! -- the capital of South Ossetia, killing heaven knows how many. And the Russians moved in, and were excoriated for their response.Now, compare that with Gaza, where overgrown bottle rockets are shot over the border like propelled Molotov cocktails. Lucky to hit or kill anyone (and this is not to say that it should absolutely not continue.....), but those Palestinians, they had it coming. They had to be taught a lesson. No comparison, you see; fraught with complexities..."

Georgian opposition members held

2009-03-25T13:29:00.002+03:00

Georgian police have arrested several members of an opposition party for allegedly trying to purchase illegal weapons, the authorities say. The interior ministry released footage of those arrested allegedly discussing how to buy several rifles and pistols.

Opposition leader Nino Burjanadze said nine members had been detained but that the arrests were on false pretences. Ms Burjanadze, who is planning to lead an anti-government protest next month, is a former ally of the president.

She formed the Democratic Movement-United Georgia party in November, criticising President Mikhail Saakashvili's "increasing authoritarianism" and "bad decision making" - in particular, his decision to go to war with Russia in August over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

'Campaign of terror'

A spokesman for the Georgian interior ministry confirmed that 10 people had been arrested on suspicion of trying to buy large supplies of automatic weapons, including some "not very high-ranking" members of the opposition party. It also released what it said was secretly-filmed video evidence showing some of those people discussing how to buy rifles and pistols.
Interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said: "We don't claim this to be a political conspiracy.

"The only thing we know is that there are people who have expressed interest in buying weapons and have bought weapons." Ms Burjanadze strongly denied that anyone from her party was involved in buying or storing weapons and said that the government was mounting "a campaign of terror against her".

"We are familiar with such video evidence and how it is made up," she told a news conference.
The BBC's Tom Esslemont in Tbilisi says it is unclear from the government videos whether anyone arrested was planning to use the guns in anti-government activity, and the interior ministry spokesman said he did not want to politicise the arrests.

But they come just weeks before a planned opposition-led demonstration and against the backdrop of an increasingly bitter feud between the two sides, our correspondent says.

bbc.co.uk

Saakashvili under Pressure from EU Probe

2009-03-24T16:20:00.001+03:00

An EU enquiry investigating the events of last summer's conflict between Russia and Georgia is shining an unfavorable light on Mikheil Saakashvili. A secret document may prove that the Georgian president had planned a war of aggression in South Ossetia.

Mamuka Kurashvili, the commander of the Georgian peacekeeping forces that had been stationed in South Ossetia before last summer's war, is no expert on the fine points of international law. But when the stout general, wearing a uniform festooned with medals, appeared before the television cameras of his native Georgia on Aug. 7, 2008, he proved to be surprisingly well-versed in the legal justification for the attack on the province, which had declared its independence from Georgia in the early 1990s.
Georgia, Kurashvili told the press, had decided "to reestablish constitutional order in the entire region." The general's words came at the beginning of a five-day war between Russia and Georgia, which quickly escalated into the most dangerous confrontation between East and West since the end of the Cold War. The conflict suddenly demonstrated to Europeans that an armed conflict with Russia on their own continent was no longer inconceivable.

Thanks to the determined crisis management efforts of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the European Union managed to broker a speedy cease-fire. Nevertheless, Europeans still lack a long-term strategy for the explosive region, a deficit that prompted the Council of the European Union to launch an enquiry into the conflict. Since December, diplomats, military officials, historians and experts in international law have been examining the factors that may have contributed to the war. Their efforts have paid off.

According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, the television appearance by General Kurashvili plays a key role in the investigation. His remarks indicate that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was not repelling "Russian aggression," as he continues to claim to this day, but was planning a war of aggression.

This is because Kurashvili may have been quoting directly from Order No. 2 from Aug. 7, a Georgian document that could shed light on the question of who started the war. When the commission questioned the Russian deputy head of the general staff, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, in Moscow, he quoted from the very same Georgian order. According to Nogovitsyn, the document also contained the phrase "reestablishment of constitutional order." If the order, which Russian intelligence intercepted, is authentic, it would prove that Saakashvili lied.

The Georgian government still refuses to show the controversial decree to the commission. Officials in Tbilisi argue that they cannot do this because the document is a state secret.
The EU investigators are particularly interested in the political leadership's possibly treacherous choice of words. "Most of South Ossetia's territory is liberated," Saakashvili, who is a trained lawyer, announced at 12:20 p.m. on Aug. 8, blaming "separatist rebels" -- South Ossetian militias -- for the fighting.

But four days after the war began, when the Russian military had already driven the Georgian army out of South Ossetia and was only 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the capital Tbilisi, Saakashvili made the surprise claim that he had learned at 10 p.m. on Aug. 7 that the Russians planned to send 150 tanks through the Roki tunnel, which connects South Ossetia and North Ossetia, which is part of Russia.

At that point, he claimed, he had "no other choice." Suddenly it was no longer a question of liberation, but of self-defense.

In fact, the Georgian leadership, as Western observers noticed, had already amassed 12,000 troops and 75 tanks on the border with South Ossetia on the morning of Aug. 7. In a decree ordering a general mobilization, which was not published until Aug. 9, Saakashvili noted that the Russian troops had advanced through the Roki tunnel on Aug. 8, which was after the Georgian attack.

The commission, which questioned senior military officers and politicians in Moscow and then Tbilisi in recent weeks, is closely examining such contradictions. But the EU representatives also received their fair share of ambiguous answers from Russian military officials and their allies in South Ossetia.

For example, the EU investigators sharply condemn the Russian military for not having prevented South Ossetians from burning down Georgian villages in their territory and driving out the inhabitants.

The commission's report, which is expected to be submitted in early summer, will also likely criticize Russia for having provided South Ossetians with Russian passports for years. International law experts see this as meddling in Georgia's internal affairs. Nevertheless, the EU investigations seems to be more of a problem for Tbilisi than for Moscow.

The stance taken by Temur Yakobashvili, Georgia's "minister for reintegration" of the breakaway province, shows just how nervous the Georgian president and his supporters are about the independent commission's findings. Yakobashvili, a Saakashvili confidant, has criticized the commission and its experts, who he claims are funded by Russian energy giant Gazprom -- a charge the commission strongly rejects.

Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, who was the UN secretary-general's special representative for Georgia and Abkhazia from 2002 to 2006, heads the commission. Her deputy is Uwe Schramm, a former German ambassador to Georgia. Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is an adviser to the commission.

The EU representatives' investigations are already seen as politically sensitive in Tbilisi today, long before their official publication, because more and more former allies of Saakashvili are now blaming the authoritarian president for the war and calling for his resignation.

Irakli Alasania, the Georgian ambassador to the UN during the war in the Caucasus, has become the spokesman of the opposition. Alasania is respected as a serious politician by the Obama administration. Saakashvili's adversaries include a former prime minister, a former foreign minister, a former defense minister and the former speaker of the parliament, Nino Burdzhanadze, who, together with Saakashvili, led the country's "Rose Revolution" in 2003.
Now Saakashvili's former comrades-in-arms want to mobilize the people once again. In a repeat of the events of six years ago, they want to stage a demonstration on Tbilisi's main thoroughfare, Rustaveli Avenue, calling for the ouster of the current president. For the Georgian opposition, the painstaking investigations of the EU enquiry come at a very opportune time.

Uwe Klussmann, Der Spiegel

OSCE head meets with Georgian leaders

2009-03-24T13:10:00.001+03:00

The tensions in Georgia have prompted calls for a consensus on the continued presence of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the country.Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, OSCE chairperson-in-office, met with government officials in Georgia on Monday to address the current situation in the country following a conflict with Russia in August over the Abkhazia and South Ossetia separatist regions, the OSCE reported.

Bakoyannis said following meetings with Georgian Prime Minister Nika Gilauri and the country's foreign minister, Grigol Vashadze, that despite the extension of the OSCE monitoring operation in Georgia until the end of June, an extended consensus is needed to achieve long-term stability.
Discussions on stability operations in Georgia are progressing among the OSCE, the European Union and the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Bakoyannis said. She said the tense situation on the ground in Georgia along the borders with Abkhazia and South Ossetia requires international attention and an OSCE presence.

"There is no doubt the OSCE's work to promote stability in the region is crucial," Bakoyannis said in a statement.

"The Greek chairmanship is intensively negotiating in an attempt to find a mutually acceptable solution for a continued OSCE presence in Georgia."

metimes.com

Opposition activists arrested in Georgia

2009-03-24T12:45:00.000+03:00

Georgia's Interior Ministry has confirmed the arrests of several opposition activists, and accused them of illegally buying firearms.

Nino Burdzhanadze, who heads the opposition For a United Georgia party, said on Monday that 10 of the party's activists had been arrested. She accused President Mikhail Saakashvili of arranging the arrests to intimidate the opposition, and said weapons had been planted in the activists' homes.

Later on Monday the Interior Ministry denied that the arrests carried out on Sunday evening were political, and released video footage that it said showed the suspects buying weapons.
"Representatives of certain parties have made very harsh statements. We have therefore decided to provide the public with some of the materials proving the criminal activities of the arrested individuals," Shota Utiashvili, head of the Interior Ministry's analytical department, told reporters.

The footage shows men conducting detailed discussions on firearms purchases, including prices and types of ammunition. In one recording, a man mentions the AKS-74U Kalashnikov assault rifle, noting its effectiveness in urban conditions.

Burdzhanadze said the arrests marked the start of a "punitive campaign" by the government against the opposition, ahead of the mass protest planned for April 9 to demand Saakashvili's resignation.

The president has seen his popularity steadily decline since last August's conflict with Russia, which was followed by Moscow's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, republics that had been de facto independent from Tbilisi since the early 1990s.

rian.ru

Lukashenko meets with Abkhazian leader

2009-03-24T12:41:00.000+03:00

Alyaksandr Lukashenko met with Sergei Bagapsh, leader of Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia, in Russia`s Black Sea coastal resort of Sochi on March 23. The talks focused on ways of developing trade, economic and cultural cooperation, the Belarusian leader's press office said.
"The president of Russia and I have already discussed the problems that exist here, in this region, from an economic viewpoint and concern Belarus," Mr. Lukashenko was quoted as saying at the meeting. "There`re many issues to be discussed, above all, economic ones. There is always more work to be done after independence is acquired. We`ll be glad if more problems that exist in the region will be solved with the help of Belarus."

Mr. Bagapsh, in his part, thanked Mr. Lukashenko for the opportunity to meet with him. "We`re ready for close cooperation with Belarus in the economic sphere," he was quoted as saying. Last year Abkhazia imported tractors and loading equipment from Belarus, and this year Abkhazia is interested in purchasing a large number of vehicles manufactured by the Minsk Automobile Factory, he noted, BelaPAN said.

"We`re ready to buy a shipment worth one billion Russian rubles," he said. "We can afford this today. We`ll work with Belarus. This is convenient for us and the quality of the [Belarusian-made] equipment is high."

Messrs. Lukashenko and Bagapsh also exchanged opinions about cooperation in higher education and measures to strengthen the two countries` ties in the area of tourism, including children`s respite holidays, the press office said. While talking to reporters in Brussels on March 16, Javier Solana, the European Union`s high representative for the common foreign and security policy, said that the non-recognition of Georgia's breakaway regions is important for the Belarus-EU relationship.

"As you know, we do not recognize them, and we are not going to change our position," Dr. Solana said. "We would like everybody who has relationship with us to have the same position."
Belarus' House of Representatives was expected to consider recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and another breakaway province of Georgia, South Ossetia, at its forthcoming spring session, but this issue has not yet been placed on the agenda of the session. According to Syarhey Maskevich, chairman of the House's International Affairs Committee, the issue may be postponed to the fall session.

naviny.by

EU commission: Saakashvili triggered the war in South Ossetia

2009-03-23T15:34:00.002+03:00

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was the initiator of the military aggression against South Ossetia. Such a conclusion was made by the European Commission which had been investigating the reasons of the war in the republic. The reason for such a conclusion was the secret order issued by Mikhail Saakashvili.
Strangely enough, the open statement made by Mamuka Kurashvili, a brigadier general of the Georgian army and the chief of a staff of peacekeeping operations in Georgia's conflict zones in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, on August 7, did not cause any worries. The European Commission paid attention to a TV interview, in which the Georgian general declared that the Georgian leaders had made the decision "to rebuild the constitutional order in South Ossetia."
The war in South Ossetia began on August 8, 2008. The amusing fact is that subsequently Kurashvili justified his statement by saying that he had had a contusion.

However, the secret document published by German magazine Spiegel on Sunday was much more weighty evidence for the EU investigation. According to Spiegel, Kurashvili's statement is literally contained in N2 order issued by the Georgian commanders-in-chief dated of August 7.
The document was intercepted by Russian secret services and delivered to the European commission.

The following are recent statements about the Georgian President made by Nino Burdzhanadze, the former Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili "by his actions and policy has ruined his political career and destroyed the country," Georgian ex-parliament speaker who quit in opposition Nino Burdzhanadze said in an interview published by the Tbilisi-based Rezonansi news paper on Monday. Burdzhanadze noted: "The sooner Saakashvili resigns the better both for him and for Georgia."

The 45-year-old Burdzhanadze is regarded here as one of the real candidates for the post of Georgian president in the event of Saakashvili's resignation. From November 2001 to May 2008 she was the speaker of the country's parliament. Then she established the opposition party "Democratic Movement-United Georgia." Burdzhanadze is one of the organisers of a mass protest action demanding Saakashvili's resignation. The rally is planned to be held on April 9.

pravda.ru

Medvedev Approves Treaties to Protect Abkhaz, S.Ossetian Borders

2009-03-23T12:40:00.001+03:00

Russia's President, Dmitry Medvedev, gave his go-ahead to signing of two separate treaties with Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia on March 20, the Kremlin said.

Treaties on "joint measures for protection of the state borders," which has yet to be signed, are separate from the ones on military cooperation that Moscow plans to sign with the both of the regions. Agreements on military cooperation will envisage a long-term stationing of the Russian military bases in the breakaway regions.

civil.ge

Georgia used mercenaries: Russia

2009-03-23T12:34:00.001+03:00

Mr Alexander Bastrikin, head of the investigative committee with the Russian prosecutor's general office has claimed that he has evidence that Georgia hired American, Ukrainian, Turkish and Czech mercenaries in the August conflict in South Ossetia.
"Today we have got irrefutable evidence that combatants of Ukrainian nationalist organisation UNA-UNSO were involved in these events", he said.

This fact is confirmed with private belongings, photo pictures, field uniform, note books of the combatants as well as the routine order dated June 27, 2008, issued by the Georgian ministry of interior settling small-arms on the commander of the UNA-UNSO unit.

Besides, Mr Bastrikin said that he cannot rule out the possibility of establishment of a special international court similar to The Hague tribunal to prosecute the persons who committed crimes against the people of South Ossetia.

"Probably after the investigation is accomplished, we will speak about establishment of a special court on the events in South Ossetia", he added. The investigation of the events in South Ossetia will be extended until April 2009, thereafter the materials will be handed over to the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation.

"After the investigation the materials will be handed over to the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation, which will submit them to the world community", said the investigative committee head.

nation.co.ke

Russian foreign minister accuses EU of putting pressure on Belarus over Georgia's breakaway regions

2009-03-23T12:26:00.000+03:00

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday accused the European Union of exercising pressure on Minsk over the recognition of Georgia's two breakaway regions. The minister was speaking at the annual Brussels Forum in the Belgian capital, which was attended by prominent politicians and experts.

"When my good friend Karel Schwarzenberg publicly says that if Belarus recognizes Abkhazia and South Ossetia it could forget about Eastern Partnership, is it blackmail or is it democracy at work?" AFP quoted Mr. Lavrov as saying.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg warned in February that if Minsk recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, its participation in the European Union's Eastern Partnership program would be unlikely.

The leaders of the European Union member states, at a March 20 summit in Brussels, endorsed the program that is aimed at strengthening the EU's ties with six ex-Soviet states, which, apart from Belarus, include Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Moldova.

The program is to be launched at a summit in Prague on May 7. The European Union has not yet made up its mind on whether to invite Alyaksandr Lukashenko to the summit.

Moscow recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in August 2008 following Georgia's attack on South Ossetia to regain control of the breakaway region and Russia's subsequent military intervention. Nicaragua has been the only country to follow Russia's lead in recognizing the independence of the two republics.

Belarus' House of Representatives is expected to consider recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states on April 2, when the first plenary meeting of its spring session is to be held. The House received a recognition appeal from the parliament of South Ossetia on December 1 and a similar appeal from the legislature of Abkhazia a little earlier.

Mr. Lukashenko has said on many occasions that he has left this matter to the discretion of the parliament.
naviny.by

Russia setting up military bases in Abkhazia, South Ossetia

2009-03-23T12:19:00.001+03:00

The commander of Russia's ground forces, Gen. Vladimir Boldyrev, confirmed on March 20 that Russia is setting up military bases in the separatist territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Boldyrev indicated that the so-called 4th and 7th military bases, situated in South Ossetia and Abkhazia respectively, would be ready to host tactical exercises by the end of 2009, the Itar-Tass news agency reported March 20.

Abkhazia's de facto defense chief Murab Kishmaria on March 20 announced that joint military exercises could take place by the end of the year, involving Russian troops, along with member of the Abkhaz and South Ossetian defense forces. The holding of such exercises would depend on the signing of relevant security agreements with the separatist entities.

Eduard Kokoiti, the South Ossetia leader, indicated that his separatist territory was prepared to give Russia a 99-year lease for its base. Abkhaz officials said the lease covering the Russian base there would have a term of 49 years, according to a report distributed by the Dni.ru news website.

eurasianet.org

Russia stands firm on sovereignty of Abkhazia, South Ossetia

2009-03-20T12:45:00.001+03:00

Russia will not back away from its recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in order to begin a dialogue on relations with Georgia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Davaid Bakradze, a spokesman for the Georgian parliament, said on Thursday that Tbilisi was ready to begin a dialogue with Moscow, but only starting from the principle of Georgia's territorial integrity, meaning Russia should reverse its decision to recognize the two former Georgian republics.

"This is a new element in the approach, but it must not be on the condition of territorial integrity. There is no way back. Abkhazia and South Ossetia have been recognized by Russia as independent states and they should be treated equally. Other approaches are unacceptable," spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.

At a meeting with Georgian students, Bakradze said it was possible to solve all problems with Abkhazians and South Ossetians only if they "are part of Georgia."

Georgia severed diplomatic ties with Russia in late last August after Moscow recognized the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. The move followed a five-day war with Georgia, which began when Tbilisi attacked South Ossetia on August 8, 2008, in a bid to bring it back under central control.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia have had de-facto independence since they broke away from Georgia after the bloody post-Soviet conflicts in the early 1990s.

rian.ru

European Union is ready to communicate and work with Abkhazia on specific issues

2009-03-20T12:42:00.001+03:00

The European Union does not recognise Abkhazia as an independent state, but is ready to communicate with it and work on specific issues: in the sphere of healthcare, cooperation with civil society, giving young people an opportunity to join the European programme of student exchange for education, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby said at a meeting with Abkhazian Prime Minister Alexander Ankvab.

During three years the European Commission financed programmes for support of small businesses, agriculture and energy in the Gali and Ochamchira districts of the republic. According to EU officials, today the possibility for their continuation exists. The European Union is ready to provide 4 million euros in aid to Abkhazia, Semneby added.

Alexander Ankvab said for his part that the "non-recognition of Abkhazia by the European Union in no way hinders the development of the Abkhazian state." It does not mean that "we will not be developing and that you will not be able to participate in this process," he said. "We are ready to consider specific proposals. It we speak about economic programmes they must be specific and targeted. If we take healthcare here there are questions which you can help us settle," the Abkhazian prime minister added.

Ankvab cited an example of fruitful cooperation with the Russian Federation in the rehabilitation of the Gali, Ochamchira and Tkuarchali districts. According to him, "last year alone, over 2 billion US dollars were allotted for these districts." "Despite the financial crisis, in 2009 the sum of Russian investment programmes in the social sphere accounted for 833 million roubles, let alone private businesses that are successfully working in Abkhazia," Ankvab stated.

According to Peter Semneby's mission statement posted on the European Commission's website, the latest enlargement of the EU has brought the South Caucasus neighbourhood even closer to the EU. The new proximity of this neighbourhood along with the region's geographic location between the Black Sea and the Caspian, between Russia, Turkey and Iran, and as a link between Europe and Asia makes the South Caucasus a key strategic region for the EU.

Following the outbreak of open hostilities between Georgia and Russia in August 2008, the EU took immediate steps to secure a ceasefire, stabilise the situation and facilitate political talks between the parties. This engagement demonstrates just how important the EU considers the region to be.

As EUSR for the South Caucasus, I work to further the EU's agenda in the countries of the region - Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia - as well as to contribute to the development of a comprehensive EU policy for the South Caucasus. Much of this work is undertaken jointly with the European Commission, in particular in support of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) Action Plan for the three countries.

"My mandate includes assisting the three countries in carrying out political and economic reforms, notably in the fields of rule of law, democratisation, human rights and good governance. I work closely with the Commission in this endeavour," the statement says.
"The EU has been heavily involved in working to resolve the long-standing conflicts over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Following the outbreak of an armed conflict between Georgia and Russia in August 2008, the EU appointed an EUSR for the Crisis in Georgia and deployed an EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM). I work in tandem with the EUSR for the Crisis in Georgia and provide local political guidance to the EUMM. Even after the war, I will continue to support the implementation of the confidence-building measures that have been agreed jointly with the Commission and myself. This work aims to contribute to the efforts for the peaceful settlement of the conflicts," Semneby stated.

"A key consideration for the EU in Georgia remains the continuation of democratic reforms, in particular in the area of the rule of law. As the elections in Georgia have not resolved political differences within society, I am actively engaged in promoting constructive political dialogue between the government and opposition - a prerequisite for long-lasting political stability in Georgia. I am also involved in promoting the development of free and independent media," Semneby noted.

The EUSR structure includes the EU Border Support Team, which has been developing a border management strategy and implementation plan for Georgia and is building the capacity of Georgian border guards. The work of the BST has proved successful in moving Georgia towards best European practices and standards for integrated border management, according to the official.

"In Armenia, I promote the ongoing democratisation process, the rule of law and media freedom in order to facilitate the reforms necessary for making Armenia a vibrant and functioning democracy," he noted.

According to Semneby, "I also facilitate contacts between officials and civil society in Armenia and Turkey with a view to addressing outstanding issues and providing the basis for the re-establishment of relations. Improved bilateral relations between the two countries would contribute to the overall stability and prosperity of the South Caucasus."

itar-tass.com

Russia to continue support for Abkhazia, S. Ossetia

2009-03-19T16:02:00.000+03:00

Russia is set to continue financial support for Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2010-2011 in the framework of a three-year budget, Deputy Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated today. He did not specify the exact amount of funds to be allotted in 2010-2011, however, noting simply that it would by no means be smaller than in 2009.

This year, RUB 2.36bn and RUB 2.8bn (approx. USD 67.74m and USD 80.37m) will be allotted to the budgets of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, respectively. Furthermore, Siluanov noted, Russia is pondering loans to the two republics to finance profit making projects.

As reported earlier, the Finance Ministries of the three states signed intergovernmental agreements today that stipulate for financial aid to be provided to Abkhazia and South Ossetia to speed up their social and economic development and balance their budgets.

rbcnews.com

First local FM radio - Volna FM - began broadcasts in South Ossetia

2009-03-19T15:59:00.000+03:00

First local FM radio - Volna FM, began broadcasts in South Ossetia on Tuesday.
The new radio intends to broadcast news and entertaining programs. Daily news programs covering day-by-day developments in South Ossetia will be given priority in the Volna FM broadcasting schedule.

There had been no radio in South Ossetia since the August, 2008 war.

Local broadcasts continuing three-four hours per day have been made by state teleradio company Ir (Ossetia) that broadcasts to almost the entire territory of South Ossetia.

Thanks to the federal program of technical re-equipment of federal television South Ossetia can receive a signal from the Vladikavkaz Broadcasting Center and broadcast programs by First federal TV Channel, Vesti (news) Channel, NTV and Kultura (culture) Channel.

itar-tass.com

Russian action movie on Georgia war coming soon

2009-03-19T15:54:00.001+03:00

A Russian action film inspired by last year's Georgia war and shot in the same style as the Bourne trilogy will be broadcast soon on Russia's top television channel, a spokeswoman for the station said on Wednesday. The trailer for "Olympus Inferno," the latest Russian interpretation of last August's events, shows its two young heroes ducking gunfire, explosions, and a raging Georgian officer firing his pistol.

The film is set to highlight the debate between Moscow and Tbilisi about who started the five-day war over the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia, which broke away from Tbilisi in the early 1990s. Diplomatic ties between the countries remain cut.

The film, which will be shown on March 29, is "something like the Bourne films," said a spokeswoman for Channel One, referring to the Hollywood action movies starring Matt Damon.
The fictional account tells of a U.S.-based entomologist and a female Russian journalist who unintentionally capture evidence that Georgia started the conflict using a special camera night lens as they attempt to film rare night butterflies.

The two face obstacles as they try to get through the frontlines of advancing Georgian forces and back to South Ossetia's capital, Tskhinvali with proof of who started the war.

Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake the pro-Russian rebel region of South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in 1991-92.

Russia responded with a counter-strike that drove the Georgian army out of South Ossetia.
Moscow's troops pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks. The West condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions.

SHOT IN ABKHAZIA

The entire production was shot over the winter months in Georgia's second breakaway region of Abkhazia, because its temperate climate resembled South Ossetia in summertime.
Director Igor Voloshin said it should be seen simply as an action film about two young people who get caught up in the war.

"Debates begin ... 'bad Russian or bad Georgians', but it's just a film. You should look at it as a film, as a work of art, which is what I made," Voloshin told Reuters.

"People love buying films like Apocalypse Now, masterpieces about war in Vietnam. Hollywood masterpieces and nobody remembers that the heroes of these films invaded Vietnam and burnt it with napalm -- for some reason that is forgotten."

But he said the historical record shows clearly who was to blame for last summer's war: "If you look at the facts of the conflict, about who started it, it was Georgia."

reuters.com

OSCE mission work in Georgia is crucial: OSCE chairperson

2009-03-18T13:23:00.001+03:00

In this time of crisis, the OSCE mission's work in Georgia is crucial, OSCE press release quoted OSCE chairperson Dora Bakoyannis as saying.

"In this time of crisis, the Mission's work to promote stability in the region is more crucial than ever," Greek Foreign Minister Bakoyannis said at the end of the EU and OSCE Troika meeting in Brussels on March 16.

""It is unfortunate that the OSCE Mission to Georgia finds itself in a process of discontinuation because of a lack of consensus on an extension of its mandate," she said. "Greek Chairmanship is intensively negotiating in an attempt to find consensus for a continued OSCE presence in Georgia."

As many as 20 military observers from the OSCE monitor situation in the Caucasus in Georgian regions which border on South Ossetia. OSCE mission mandate in Georgia expired in January. The mission is going to leave the country soon. Russia did not agree to extend mandate of the OSCE mission in Georgia at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on Dec. 22, 2008 supposing that current mandate of the Georgian mission include Abkhazian and South Ossetian components and therefore its should be reviewed.

The Chairperson also welcomed progress achieved so far in the Geneva discussions on Georgia - which are co-chaired by the OSCE, the EU and the United Nations - and said she hoped those talks would continue to yield results.

The Geneva talks which brought together representatives from OSCE, EU and the United Nations aims to eliminate consequences of the Georgia-Russia conflict.

A military clash took place in South Ossetia in August 2008 as Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia. Russia backed separatist regions and established diplomatic relations with them.

trend.az

Russia charges "deserter", Georgia won't extradite

2009-03-18T13:19:00.000+03:00

A Russian soldier who upset Moscow by leaving his unit and turning up in Georgia has been charged with desertion, Russian prosecutors said on Tuesday, while Tbilisi said it had no plans to extradite the fugitive.

"The Military Investigative Directorate has launched this criminal case," said a spokesman for the Russian Military Prosecutor's office. "Desertion is punished by up to seven years in jail."
Sergeant Alexander Glukhov disappeared in January from his unit in breakaway South Ossetia and said he wanted asylum in Georgia, angering Moscow and handling a public relations coup to the pro-Western government in Tbilisi.

Georgia and Russia fought a war last August over South Ossetia, a breakaway pro-Russian province of Georgia. Tbilisi's forces tried to retake it, unleashing a massive counter-attack by Russian troops.

Russia now demands Glukhov should be extradited by Georgia, but Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili ruled this out. "Georgia will not discuss extraditing Glukhov to Russia until the issue of granting him political asylum in Georgia has been decided," Utiashvili said.

Dressed in jeans and trainers and eating a "Big Mac" hamburger, Glukhov told Reuters at a McDonald's outlet in Tbilisi in January that he had fled his military unit because conditions with Russian forces in South Ossetia were unbearable.

Russia's defence ministry had originally maintained that Glukhov was captured by Georgian forces and kept in Tbilisi against his will. It later appealed to him to return to Russia, saying he was a disciplined soldier, no legal action would be taken against him and he would be sent to continue service in another unit.

The defence ministry brought Glukhov's mother to South Ossetia, but the soldier declined to meet her in an area lying close to Russian military positions.

reuters.com

Abkhazia, S Ossetia to receive Russian aid

2009-03-18T13:14:00.000+03:00

Russia has agreed to send about $148 million to two breakaway of provinces of Georgia, a day after South Ossetia decried belated promises.

The money will go directly to the two region's budgets under the agreement signed on Tuesday in Moscow, AFP reported Tuesday citing RIA-Novosti news agency.

Moscow will give 2.36 billion rubles (68 million dollars, 52 million euros) to Abkhazia and 2.8 billion rubles to South Ossetia (80 million dollars, 62 million euros).

Following a war with ex-soviet neighbor Georgia over Tbilisi aggression on South Ossetia, Moscow recognized the regions as independent, a move followed by only one other nation, Nicaragua.

The Kremlin said both separatist regions had a right to declare independence, noting the immediate EU and the US' support of Kosovo's independence from Serbia.

On Monday, a top South Ossetian official complained that Russia was not honoring its pledge to send help the country following a brief but devastating war with Georgia in August last year.
Irina Gagloyeva, chief spokeswoman for the South Ossetian administration, told Reuters news agency that the country was in dire need of assistance for reconstruction plans.

presstv.ir