Georgia Cries Foul Over Reported Russian Attacks in Kodori Gorge
Earlier this week, the Georgian governement charged that Russian forces reportedly fired on a villagers in the Tblisis-controlled Kodori gorge, which serves as a sort of a buffer between Georgia and Abkhazia; one of the breakaway republics – along with South Ossetia – that have been the root of friction between the Georgian government and the Kremlin. Kodori gorge is where the Tblisi-backed Abkhazia government-in-exile is holed up. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has accused Russia of the attacks, despite strong denial from Russian defense forces.
Saakashvili lashed out at the Kremlin on Wednesday:
“These people showed their real wild face to the world. They are barbarians who have continued stealthily into the twenty-first century,” Saakashvili said.
“You won’t be able to force Georgia to her knees,” he said after visiting a local school which was damaged in the attack.
The cause of the attack and other details are still being sorted out, but the Russians have been curiously quiet as more information emerges.
Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Levan Nikoleishvili said on March 12 that the Russian army helicopters entered into the Georgian airspace from the Russian Federation and opened fire on the villages in upper Kodori Gorge. He declined to comment on further details.
Head of the Abkhaz government-in-exile Malkhaz Akishbaia said villages of Azhara and Chkhalta were shelled from both helicopters and GRAD rockets fired from the Abkhaz-controlled Tkvarcheli district.
“This was an attempt to terrorize the local population and an attempt by the Abkhaz side to withdraw from the peace process,” Akishbaia said.
But Foreign Minister of breakaway Abkhazia Sergey Shamba told Imedi TV early on March 12 that the Abkhaz militiamen have nothing to do with the incident. He said it was “an ordinary, routine clash” between local militias, led by rebel warlord Emzar Kvitsiani and Georgian forces located in upper Kodori Gorge.
“These kinds of clashes have been occurring in the gorge time and time again; but it seems that in this recent case the exchange of fire was more intensive. Spring is coming and the [rebel militias] are expected to intensify their activities,” Shamba said. | Read more…
Siberian Light posts more commentary on this.
An Emerging Player in Geopolitical Energy Struggle
The South Caucasus region is an important spine of influence, particularly as it relates to energy and security. The West is particularly interested in the South Caucasus region for its energy wealth (Caspian Sea), which has grown more abundant with the advent of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which has more readily opened westward access of Caspian oil to energy markets in Europe. In fact, the EU increasingly considers BTC and the three South Caucasus states key components of its energy security strategy, which grew more urgent this winter as the Kremlin continued to tinker with its westward energy taps.
During its EU presidency, Germany is leading this charge.
Germany, which holds the rotating EU presidency until 30 June, is working to deepen economic and political ties with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, while Brussels overtly speaks about the vital role of the Caspian Sea region for Europe’s energy security.
The enhancement of the new European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), with particular attention to South Caucasus and Central Asia, is one of Berlin’s priorities. The ENP initially excluded Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, but was extended to the three republics in June 2004, under the influence of the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia. As a result, three new ENP plans were launched on 14 November 2006, signaling Europe’s view that the time was ripe for a more ambitious agenda. | Read more…
Georgia’s Sweet Tooth for Nato = Unhappy Russia
Nato has also taken an even greater interest in the South Caucasus. Georgia’s parliament recently expressed strong support on their country’s “full and immediate” accession into Nato. Check out this commentary by Russian journalist and member of the RIA Novosti Expert Council:
Tbilisi has revealed stunning unanimity on the NATO entry. “We will become members of the world’s strongest military and political alliance. Georgia has been dreaming about this for centuries,” the Georgian leader said. At one time Georgia wanted to become part of Russia in a bid to save itself from the troops of the Persian Shah, and in the 1970s the then Comrade Shevardnadze proclaimed that “for Georgia the sun rises in the North.”
President Saakashvili also emphasized that some forces inside and outside the country were exploiting the prospect of Georgia’s NATO entry for the return of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He explained that NATO did not take part in domestic conflicts. Meanwhile, at the NATO summit in Riga Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Nino Burjanadze said it would be much simpler if Georgia were first accepted into NATO, and then the talks on South Ossetia and Abkhazia started with NATO’s participation. So, who is exploiting the issue?
The day before the discussion on a declaration on entering NATO in parliament, Tbilisi spread information on the bombing of the upper part of the Kodor Gorge by helicopters that crossed the border with Russia from the North. No evidence of them being Russian was submitted, but the bombing was one of the main arguments in favor of signing a memo on national accord. Burjanadze stressed that it was particularly important to sign it because of the events in upper Abkhazia. Georgia will do everything to join as soon as possible an organization that brings peace and stability to the entire region, she promised.” | Read more…
Nato entry would certainly draw the ire of the Kremlin as it would bring Georgia even closer to the West’s sphere of influence, not to mention, provide the kind of security and military protections afforded to members. Already as a member of Nato’s Partnership for Peace Georgia will play host to Cooperative Archer 2007 in July. This multinational military exercise further demonstrates the seriousness of Georgia’s alliance with Nato. There still is no word if Georgia or other South Caucasus countries will be asked to host a part of America’s hotly contested missile defense shield, but it should not be ruled out.
Meanwhile, Russian troops continue to be stationed in the breakaway regions of Georgia. Last year, Georgia’s parliament voted for the troops to leave. They haven’t. Thursday, Saakashvili further criticized the presence of Russia’s forces.
“The current peacekeeping format is discredited and ineffective and everybody understands that its preservation in the current form is impossible,” Saakashvili told parliament in an annual address.
Tbilisi accuses Moscow of stirring tensions in the two rebel regions, home to “frozen conflicts” dating back to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
However Russia views the troops as key to preventing a resurgence of the armed conflict that plagued the regions in the early 1990s.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia do not want the troops to leave either, seeing them as defence against an attack by Georgia.
