Politkovskaya and Novaya Gazeta - An Interview

The following interview with the principal editor of Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper for which Anna Politkovskaya was working when she was murdered on Saturday, has been published in Chechen Society Newspaper. The interview was conducted in late September this year, before Saturday’s terrible event. I have translated the text of the interview, as it gives an insight into some of the background to Politkovskaya’s work in the perod leading up to her murder.

Dmitry MURATOV:

Our newspaper can be found everywhere in Chechnya

Recently readers of Novaya Gazeta newspaper have begun to say that they can feel some changes in their favourite publication.

“Something in Novaya has changed,” they believe. The changes that have already taken place and the changes that may yet come about in this newspaper, which needs no advertisement in the Chechen republic, were described to Russian journalists at the end of September at the Dagomys All-Russian Media Festival in Dagomys by the paper’s editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov.

Transcribed by Timur ALIYEV

What changes have taken place in Novaya Gazeta and what are they connected with?

We’ve gone public and become a shareholding company. This was announced at the World Press Congress which took place in Moscow in June, by Mikhail Gorbachev and his old friend Lebedev (Aleksandr Lebedev - banker, member of the RF State Duma ,ed.). Gorbachev and Lebedev presently own 49 percent of the newspaper’s shares, and 51 percent are owned by a group of the editorial staff. This is a consolidated package, and we don’t plan to de-consolidate it.

Why Gorbachev, exactly?

I greatly respect Gorbachev as a human being. He was one of the few leaders of the country who earned nothing from it. And it’s good that Lebedev is there, who can help him to realize various philanthropic projects.

Russia is probably the only country in the world where civil servants have become the middle class (mainly on bribes). We were talking to Satarov (Georgy Satarov - President of the Indem Regional Fund, which engages in projects on the fight with corruption - ed.), who said that although the number of bribes in the last Russian Parliament was reduced, their value increased (to 50,000 dollars on average).

Gorbachev is also convenient because he is practically one step away from almost any prominent figure in the world. For example, he can call up Bill Gates and suggest he should give an interview for the paper.

What else has going public brought to Novaya Gazeta?

Starting next year we’re going over to colour. On Tuesdays and Thursdays the paper will come out as usual, but the Saturday issue will be in colour. There will also be a TV show. Actually, in the present size of the paper there isn’t room for all the material we get - so many are the people who bring us their pain and suffering.

What is the present size of your paper’s readership?

Our readership is two million (federal issue, regional issues and Internet site). And these are all people out of the ordinary, whose contributions to the newspaper’s Internet forums are sometimes more intelligent than our regular experts. And we really want to keep this readership for ourselves, and our newspaper for this readership.

For the past two years our circulation has remained more or less static: 151,000 for the federal issue, about half million regional supplements, 70,000 for the daily Internet readership. But during this time the general circulations of the other newspapers has fallen by 20-30 percent, while ours has remained the same. And the price hasn’t changed, either. A few years ago we reduced it from 9 rubles to 7 rubles. It’s true that those “jackals” sell it for 14-15 rubles.

Mail of course kills a newspaper. A mail subscription to the newspaper costs more than selling it by single copies. In Russia the distribution networks are being bought up by Russian Aluminium, and in Moscow just about everyone is buying up everything, though it’s mainly the special services who are doing it.

Why does one constantly get the feeling that there’s a “split” in Novaya Gazeta?

There are two tendencies in the newspaper. I favour “free breathing”, articles on light subjects. But other of our colleagues consider that that’s not why people read us, and therefore we mustn’t waste pages on those articles. I agree with that point of view, but I don’t want to support it.

But on the whole there’s a generational shift of generations going on in the paper. That is bound to go away. People don’t write the same way any more.

I will gradually move over to the side of the rarities. A new generation will come along. Even now one of our deputy editors is 24, the other is 26. There are departmental heads who are 23, or 30. They even think in a different way.

Anna Politkovskaya complains about you. She says you refuse to publish her material about Chechnya. What are the future prospects for “Chechen" articles, and especially for Anna Politkovskaya’s material in Novaya Gazeta?

Politkovskaya complains about me, on the radio, too, and it’s true. I’ll explain why. She brings me a text that reads more or less like this: “Early in the morning armoured personnel carriers manned by bloody Kadyrovite hangmen entered Malgobeksky district and seized the peaceful guerrilla Ahmet, who is not fighting at present, but working as a farmer, took him to Grozny, and handed him over to the Oktyabrsky district commandant’s office, where he was tortured to death.” Then I say to her: Anya, we need to think more of who we are writing for.”

If Politkovskaya were to have her way, then the newspaper would look like this: Page 1 - Chechnya, Page 2 - Kadyrov, Page 3 - Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Page 4 - Kadyrov, Page 5 - Chechnya… and so on, all the way to Page 32.

I know that our newspaper can be found everywhere in Chechnya, it is sold and photocopied. People from Chechnya queue up for Politkovskaya But I tell her: You are not a Chechen Joan of Arc. You can’t save the entire Chechen people.

This year I have sent her on an assignment to Chechnya only twice. That’s all I would let her do. But in my absence she “extorted” a signature from my deputy Sergei Sokolov. Then she calls me from there and says with malicious glee: “I’m in Chechnya”

But that’s Politkovskaya. I once said to her: “That’s not a car you parked just now, it’s a broomstick.”

I usually say to Politkovskaya: Chechnya doesn’t exist, forget about it. There have been elections there, a referendum. It’s all legitimate now. OK, the falsification at the elections was 30 percent. But no one’s going to court about it. No one’s saying anything against Kadyrov. But they come to Novaya Gazeta, to Politkovskaya, to complain. That’s not right, and we will change this.

[Yulia] Latynina has just written an article, she went and spent a whole day with Prime Minister Kadyrov. And it came out interestingly. Apparently, she was penetrated by his machismo, and her material proved (unusually for Novaya) to be impregnated with a kind of lyricism.

We will change Politkovskaya’s profile. I’ve already told her: We are going to re-brand you. We’ll put her into the social sphere, on national projects. I don’t think this “broomstick with the energy of Chernobyl” is going to remain without work.

“Chechen society” Newspaper, # 21 (86), 9 October, 2006.

http://www.chechensociety.net

Lithuania Expels Russian Diplomat

Lithuanian prime minster Gediminas Kirkilas has confirmed that Lithuania has expelled a highly-placed Russian diplomat for espionage, gazeta.ru reports. The diplomat was accused of having “tried to influence the position of Lithuania’s representatives in the matter of the resolution of the Russian-Georgian conflict”.

Georgia Won't Accept More Cargo Planes

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has announced that Georgia will not accept more cargo planes of deportees from Russia. Another cargo planeload of 100 people is expected to leave Moscow for Tbilisi today:

“If the Russian authorities do not provide normal, passenger planes for our citizens, Georgia will not receive their cargo planes any more,” he added.

But spokesman of the Russian migration service Konstantin Poltoranin told Interfax news agency on October 9 that transportation of deportees with cargo plane Il-76 is not a violation of their rights.

(Civil Georgia)

N. Korea Nuclear Test

Via Stratfor:

Reports spread Oct. 9 that North Korea tested a nuclear device in the eastern part of North Hamgyong province at 10:35 a.m. local time. China has indicated it did detect a small underground test, although the South Korean military has not raised its alert level. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his government has confirmed there has been seismic activity from North Korea, although he has not received reports on its magnitude.

The U.S. Geological Survey detected a 4.2 tremor in North Korea, which is smaller than expected and not big enough to make North Korea an unequivocal nuclear power.

If a test did occur, the most immediate U.S. response will likely be a strong condemnation and a call for a U.N. mandate for sanctions. If there is no U.S. military response, Pyongyang will see that as an acceptance of North Korea as a nuclear power.

Many questions remain, however. Even if this were a nuclear test, it is not clear that it was a weapon rather than a device. A nuclear device produces an in-place blast from a mechanism of indeterminate size and structure. A weapon can be fitted on a missile or on an aircraft, and is therefore highly compact and ruggedized.

China's response will be hesitant. China does not seem ready to cut off food or fuel to North Korea, particularly before winter sets in. Beijing has deployed additional troops to the border, but that is to seal the frontier. Beijing will be angry, but its primary concern is to keep the North Korean people from spilling across the border into northeast China.

South Korea will, of course, suspend cooperation in Kaesong and Kumkang and will probably put its forces on alert. With the drawdown of U.S. troops in South Korea, the South Korean army is now the border patrol. U.S. military units remaining will have to go on heightened alert and rush Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries to the peninsula. South Korea could deploy high-level officials to North Korea

Japan will work for U.N. for sanctions and Chapter 7 invocation. Japan also will heighten its military posture and increase diplomacy with China and South Korea in an attempt to show a united front against North Korea

North Korea will go on high alert nationwide. The military will assume a high-readiness posture, and the North Koreans will proclaim their entry into the nuclear club, using sanctions to tighten control and rally domestic backing. Pyongyang might quickly invite the International Atomic Energy Agency in to make its nuclear status "legitimate." It will petition international bodies to accept the new reality.

In any event, North Korea will view the test as a victory. It will mark the acceptance of the government as a nuclear state. Further negotiations will have to take place under this new reality. North Korea cannot be isolated forever. North Korea has bet that anything less than a complete military invasion is a capitulation. Pyongyang will press for acceptance, similar to Pakistan. China and South Korea will be key; both desperately want to avoid any military action. They will end up negotiating with North Korea, finding a way to make the North comply with international regulations.

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Remembering Anna Politkovskaya

By Tomáš Vršovský

via Prague Watchdog

October 8, 2006



PRAGUE - I was with a British academician and human rights practitioner yesterday afternoon, discussing the price that human rights activists pay for their vocation when a friend of mine called to announce, "They killed Politkovskaya".

The contract murder of a top Russian investigative journalist, who covered the Chechnya conflict and developments in the Northern Caucasus, took place on President Putin’s 54th birthday. This is rather symbolic in that it was Putin who at the turn of the century launched, along with the war in Chechnya, a campaign against the free media.

Anna, however, was not afraid of him. Last month I happened to talk with her about the threats she faced in the past, asking whether they had stopped. "Not at all. I'm still being threatened. I've just stopped talking publicly about them." As to where did they come from, she said, "Chechnya," adding that they come from Ramzan Kadyrov and his people. "It’s best that I not think about them, otherwise I would go crazy."

In the past couple of years, Anna devoted her life to bring at least a bit of justice to the victims of murders, abductions, and torture - areas where the state not only fails to protect its citizens, but itself becomes the implementer of terror.

"Every day I receive three to five letters from Chechnya from people asking me for help. And I have to dispassionately select which are to be used in my reports and which must be ignored. It's terrible, but it's something I can't do anything about."

Sadly, Anna has paid the ultimate price for her job. This courageous woman, by telling the truth, induced fear in the powers-that-be. It’s a lesson that especially Russian journalists should take to heart.

Outcasts

In the sadness and shock of Anna Politkovskaya's terrible murder, it may be timely to remember something she wrote in one of her Chechnya war dispatches, first published in 2002:

"We are a nation of outcasts. And whoever is with us is an outcast," says Dr. Khajiev as a farewell.
----
Because Chechnya is a zone where some people can do what they want, and the others have to accept it.

Russia continues to nurture an enclave where citizens' rights don't exist. It's a very dangerous business. If only the world could see the eyes of Aishat Suleimanova's son! The gaze of a hunted outcast. His father was killed only because he was an outcast, and whose mother was disfigured for the same reason. At the beginning of the war, most Chechens were still surprised by their new situation and yelled, "We're people just like you! We demand respect!" But now no one yells. Because everyone agrees: they are a nation of outcasts.

(A Small Corner of Hell. Dispatches from Chechnya, translated by Alexander Burry and Tatiana Tulchinsky, p. 88)

Press Items

One or two recent notable press items on events in Georgia and Russia:

In the International Herald Tribune on Thursday, Georgia’s prime minister Zurab Nogaideli gave an account of her government’s approach to the spying crisis, and had this to say about his reaction to it:

Viewed from Tbilisi, Russia’s strategy is to depress and disembody a small nation that seeks to be free, that desires justice for its forcibly displaced citizens and that wants to instill democracy in a country that was for too long subjugated to another state and another ideology. We are a European nation that seeks to end our process of decolonization and become fully democratic. We remain mystified as to why Russia seems to perceive a threat from a small democracy on its border.

Georgia remains a work in progress. In three years, we have put an end to the rampant corruption and gangster politics that bedeviled our citizens for over a decade. Last month, the World Bank praised Georgia as the least corrupt transitional democracy. We are improving our system of justice. We are in a rush to make our prisons more European and less Soviet. We have cut through the bureaucracy that stifled private initiative and encouraged the black market, introducing reforms that have fueled economic growth. We are appealing for help to make our frontiers more secure so that people and weapons never pass illegally through our territory to other European destinations.

We are all too aware of what we still need to achieve. Our task is made harder by the fact that Russia’s leaders do not seem to share our aspirations for our citizens - or for their own. We regret this because what we wish for all Georgians, we also wish for all Russians. It is in our common interest. It is a necessity for the region and it is vital for a European Union whose security is now contingent on peace in our region.

We can no longer allow the global challenges of terrorism, energy insecurity and poverty to be reduced to pawns in a diplomatic game.

We have chosen a European path for our country. We seek European and international help to consolidate our democracy, secure our borders and foster peaceful conflict resolution that will benefit Georgia, Russia and our European partners.

The Guardian Weekly looks at Russia’s New Racism. An excerpt:

Few people [in Russia] express much concern about racist murders or the neo-Nazi craze. If we are to believe the Russian press, “fascism is in vogue”. The celebrity magazine Caravan recently put a picture of singer Irina Allegrova in SS uniform on its front page and apparently no one objected. In August Russian Newsweek ran a feature on “underground fascist culture”, embodied among others by Tesak (a nickname that means big knife), who produces sickeningly violent video-clips. Newsweek described him as the “Leni Riefenstahl of Russian Nazis”.

Among the videos on Tesak’s website is one showing the (fictitious) hanging of a “Tajik drug dealer” by hooded thugs, who then cut up the corpse and burn it. Under the heading “Do something practical” the site offers a pro-forma letter for budding informers, encouraging those spotting an illegal on their block to tell the police.

Dmitri Demushkin is one of Russia’s neo-Nazi ideologists. His own movement, the Slavic Union, has almost 5,000 members in the Moscow area alone. Thirtyish, with frizzy hair, suit and tie, he does not fit the skinhead stereotype, presenting himself as a “consultant for the presidential administration”. However, his flat has been raided twice in recent months and he has been denied a permit to organise concerts. Otherwise he is unruffled, claiming that “instructions have been issued at the highest level that I should not be disturbed”. He adds that he has “sympathisers all over the place, at the Kremlin and the Central Bank, at Rosoboronexport [which handles arms sales] and the FSB [the KGB’s successor], with the public prosecutor and the police”. He even has supporters in the Russian Orthodox church.

He is sure “national-socialist ideas will triumph in Russia”. He likens Russia now to the Weimar Republic. Demushkin maintains that “increasing numbers of young people think highly of Adolf Hitler”. Events such as the Kondopoga pogrom “are certain to recur. Lots of groups are working on it”, adding: “We were the ones that started it. Ordinary people support us. The authorities will have to accept our ideas or go.”

Nevertheless it seems ironic that far-right ideas should enjoy such widespread success in a country that paid so high a price - 27 million dead - in the war against fascism. “Many people do not connect these ideas with the Nazis and there are plenty more who don’t think Hitler did anything wrong, apart from attacking Russia,” says Alexander Verkhovski of the Sova NGO, which studies xenophobia. Nor is the craze for Nazi symbols a recent thing, he points out. A popular TV drama at the end of the 1970s, 17 Moments of Spring, told the story of a Soviet spy, Stirlitz, working undercover for the Nazis. His Waffen-SS uniform looked so smart it started a craze. Verkhovski recalls: “In school playgrounds all the kids would play at being Stirlitz, doing Nazi salutes.”

In Eurasia Daily Monitor, Igor Torbakov examines the international implications of the Georgia crisis, and comments:

…the significance of the Russian-Georgian spat goes far beyond the limits of the South Caucasus, thus making it a truly international problem.

First, it is widely accepted in Moscow that the United States sees Georgia as a geopolitically pivotal state and strategic partner. Thus the Kremlin believes that Tbilisi would never risk antagonizing its powerful northern neighbor without an encouraging nod from Washington. As a result, U.S.-Russian relations, already fragile, have deteriorated even further at a time when Washington badly needs Russian support in dealing with the nuclear defiance of North Korea and Iran as well as in the fight against the global jihadist networks.

“It is time to put aside the traditional hypocrisy and accept that what has developed around Georgia is a sort of mini Cold War,” one Russian liberal commentator asserts. Some Russian and international analysts warn about the danger of using Georgia as a playground in a zero-sum game between the world’s great powers. The problem is, they say, the big-time international actors risk ending up hostage to the weaker players. The latter are usually seen as the great powers’ proxies, but in fact they are sometimes quite good at playing the “big guys” off one another to pursue their own strategic ends.

Second, it is clear that Tbilisi’s urge to break up the Russia-supported status quo regarding the “frozen conflicts” is prompted by the approaching deadline to determine the status of Kosovo. As the likely outcome for the Serbian province is some sort of independence, the Saakashvili government is racing against time, fearing that Georgia’s breakaway regions may be lost forever following the international contact group’s decision.

While the West has always argued that Kosovo is a unique case, Russia has been pressing for the universality of the Kosovo model. But on October 4, the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, acknowledged that Kosovo’s quest for independence could have a negative effect on Georgia’s territorial integrity, conceding it would set a “precedent.” He also said that, during a recent phone conversation, the Georgian president had confessed to “tremendous worry” about the possible consequences that the ongoing UN-sponsored Kosovo status talks could have for Georgia. “We are trapped here,” Solana told the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. “President Saakashvili is trapped, all of us are trapped in a double mechanism that may have good consequences for one, but not for the other.”

The way this tricky knot is untied will seriously affect Russia-West relations. “The simultaneous exacerbation of the situation in Kosovo and the unrecognized regions in Georgia,” one Russian commentary argues, “will have reciprocal effects, threatening to destabilize the situation in both cases.”

Politkovskaya Murdered

Anna Politkovskaya, whose reporting from Chechnya defied the Kremlin’s propaganda and sought to reveal the truth of what was happening there, has been found shot dead in an elevator of her apartment building on Lesnaya Street in central Moscow, gazeta.ru reports. Reuters has more here. RFE/RL gives further details.

An attempt was made to poison Politkovskaya in 2004, when she tried to take a flight to Beslan at the time of the hostage-taking there.

If it is shown, as seems likely, that this was a planned murder, carried out for political reasons, then it indicates one more stage in the descent of Russia, under Vladimir Putin, into the condition of a fascist state.

Georgia Election: Saakashvili Victorious

Although not all the votes have yet been counted, it’s by now clear that President Saakashvili has won a resounding victory in the Georgian local elections, which have in general been hailed as free and fair by international observers. In Tbilisi his National Movement took 66 per cent of the votes, and predictions nationwide are for a similar margin of victory. RFE/RL’s Robert Parsons has an analysis of the significance of the result, commenting

For Saakashvili, it’s a satisfying response to the attempts of the Russian government this week to drive a wedge between his government and the Georgian people.

Kasyanov Protests Russian Authorities' "Chauvinist Hysteria"

Via Civil Georgia:

Mikhail Kasyanov, leader of Russia's Peoples Democratic Union and former Prime Minister who has publicly stated his presidential ambitions, has condemned the actions of the Russian authorities regarding Georgia.

A statement issued by Kasyanov reads:

"The actions of the Russian leadership, which called upon the UN Security Council for the resolution of an incident that occurred in relation to Georgia and which made the decision to implement informal sanctions against the Georgian people, are unworthy of the status of a Great Power. This policy can not be justified by the incorrect, and at times provocative, actions of the Georgian leadership.

The ongoing campaign of discrimination not only against the people of the neighboring state, but also against [Russian] citizens of Geogian nationality, have led to the violation of the Constitution, which directly forbids the limitation of citizens' rights based on ethnicity. We have to admit that Russia's first presidency in the G-8 would be marked not only by gas scandals, but also by chauvinist hysteria."

Georgia Election Results

In the Georgian municipal elections, President Saakashvili’s ruling National Movement party has done well in the capital,Tbilisi. Via Civil Georgia:

With all votes already counted in Tbilisi, official results give President Saakashvili’s National Movement party 34 seats out of 37 in the capital city’s council (Sakrebulo).

The remaining seats will be distributed among parties that received at least 4% of the total votes;however, in practice this provision might be invalid. According to the rule on the distribution of seats among the parties, garnering more than 4% does not automatically guarantee that the party will have a seat in the Sakrebulo.

The ruling National Movement party got a total of 66,42% of votes in Tbilisi’s ten constituencies, followed by a coalition of the Republican and Conservative opposition parties with 12% of votes.

Russia Copying Nazi Social Policies

More signs that the Russian government under Vladimir Putin is increasingly moving towards social policies that involve repression of a kind not seen in Europe since the Nazi era. Kommersant reports that the Russian authorities are now asking schools to compile lists of children with Georgian names, so that “checks” can be carried out on the status of their parents.

Regional police departments sent telephonograms to some of Moscow schools, asking to provide a list of pupils with Georgian last names. After receiving the list, police officers are to check the parents of these children – whether they are registered in Moscow, where they live in fact, what they do, and whether they pay taxes. According to the law “About general education in the city of Moscow”, children without registration in Moscow have the right for education in Moscow’s schools as well. Thus, the easiest way to find Georgians is through their children.

“The initiative is coming from the Internal Affairs Ministry,” a high-placed source in law-enforcement bodies told Kommersant. “Last week, every regional police department received a code telegram demanding to discover illegal migrants from Georgia living in Russia.” The source added that “the easiest way to do it is through the children who go to school no matter if their parents are registered in Moscow or pay taxes.” Several ways to discover illegal migrants were prepared. “Police officers were supposed to come to schools and talk to principals. However, minor police departments flaked on and only sent telephonograms to schools, due to which the story became public,” the source said. Thus, police officers might be expected soon to those schools which received no telephonogram.

School principals try to keep back the fact that they have received some instructions from police departments. Kommersant correspondents telephoned nearly 50 schools of Moscow. However, only a few confirmed that the check is going on. When school #658 was asked about the telephonogram from the police, they replied “there was something like that”.

EU Vacillates on Georgia

RFE/RL commentator Ahto Lobjakas notes that “Officials in Brussels are taking a markedly critical line toward Georgia in their analyses of the country’s most recent flare-up of tensions with Russia.”

Although the EU has urged Russia to lift its blockade of Georgia, the EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, said the current crisis is the “culmination” of a long process of escalation.

At the root of the troubles between Georgia and Russia lie the “frozen conflicts” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. And while the EU is critical of Russia’s lack of constructive engagement, Georgia’s role is coming under sharper scrutiny.

Today, Semneby told the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee that while the EU “keeps sending messages” to Georgia that the conflicts can only be resolved peacefully, Tbilisi appears to be paying little heed when it comes to creating the necessary conditions for moving forward.

“In addition to that, in order to create the conditions for resolving the conflicts by peaceful means, the rhetoric that has been at some points fairly sharp on the part of some Georgian officials will have to be toned down and will have instead to be replaced by confidence-building measures of various kinds to create the conditions for a real dialogue between Georgians and Ossetians and [the] Abkhaz,” Semneby said.

As an illustration of the rhetoric he has in mind, Semneby said massive international pressure headed by EU foreign-policy coordinator Javier Solana was needed to “moderate” the speech Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili gave to the UN General Assembly in New York in September. As a result of the pressure, Saakashvili decided against publicly laying down “timelines” for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Semneby today acknowledged as “legitimate” Georgia’s attempts to replace Russian peacekeepers in the separatist regions with international forces, and to change the format of peace talks — which are perceived by some to be tilted against Tbilisi.

But, Semneby said, the Georgian approach contains “serious weaknesses.” He said it has been presented in ways that are “unnecessarily provocative” toward Russia. The Georgian plans also do not address the need to “build confidence,” nor has there been a commitment to withhold from using force, nor any clear indications as to how Tbilisi would deal with the “security vacuum” that would result from a sudden withdrawal of peacekeepers.

Semneby noted that Georgia’s peace plans for both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, unveiled last year and early this year, respectively, have stalled. The reason, according to Semneby, is the removal of the “relatively moderate” Georgian chief negotiators.

The EU special representative also warned of further dangers.

“It has to be said that the conflict potential in the Caucasus is far from exhausted,” Semneby said. “Indeed, there are several other large minorities in Georgia, which means that as long as prosperity has not been more evenly distributed within Georgia, the country contains potential for further conflicts.”

Semneby noted that a greater focus on minority issues within Georgia itself would also send a strong and useful “message of reassurance” to the populations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Semneby warned today that what he called a “critical juncture” is fast approaching with the scheduled renewal of the UNOMIG peacekeeping force in Abkhazia. He said the force is dependent on a Russian-dominated local operation for security, which Russia may choose to discontinue. Semneby said both Russia and Georgia appear to have difficult demands. Russia wants Georgia to remove its forces from the upper Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia presently controlled by the Georgian government. Georgia, in turn, wants the UN mission to include a police component and human rights monitors in Georgian-populated southern Abkhazia.

Semneby today reiterated that the EU rejects attempts to link the future of the Albanian-dominated Serbian province of Kosovo with those of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He said the circumstances differed to make the cases “unique.” However, Semneby also confirmed the EU would not send peacekeepers to either breakaway Georgian region, nor press for observer status during their peace talks. He said EU assistance is going to remain limited to assisting “confidence building,” rehabilitation of areas that have suffered from conflict, and refugee return and aid to internally displaced persons.

The relative absence of any criticism of Russia in Semneby’s remarks today may be explained by the fact that his remit only covers the South Caucasus.

Most European deputies in Semneby’s audience, on the other hand, where not as reticent. Charles Tannock, speaking for the right-wing European People’s Party faction, attacked Russia’s practice of handing out its citizenship to Abkhaz and South Ossetian populations. He noted that as the EU has agreed to ease its visa rules for Russians, this could result in a “paradox” in which Georgians could find it more difficult to visit the EU than Abkhaz or South Ossetians carrying Russian passports.

Accordingly, Tannock said, the EU should withhold recognition of such Russian passports.

“I am suggesting that one way forward might be that we would not recognize those passports as having the same validity as those Russian passport holders who are resident in the territory of the Russian Federation,” Tannock said. “Somehow we need to prevent these Russian citizens, or these so-called Russian citizens living on the ‘frozen conflict’ territories from enjoying privileges which werenot intended for them but were intended for the Russians who actually reside in Russia proper.”

Russian Begins Deportation of Georgians

Reuters reports that Russia has deported 143 ethnic Georgians, who were put aboard a plane bound for Tbilisi today by federal police after being rounded up in raids and accused of illegal immigration.

Czech Intelligence Foils Mass Murder Plot

The Jerusalem Post reports on a plot to kidnap and murder dozens of Czech Jews in Prague which has now been foiled by Czech intelligence. The revelations came in the newspaper Mladá Fronta Dnes.

Muslim extremists affiliated with an unnamed group planned to abduct Jewish residents of Prague and hold them hostage in one of the city's synagogues and stage negotiations with local authorities.

However, the group never intended to release the hostages. Rather, the kidnappers planned to make unrealistic demands, and then, when their demands went unmet, blow up the building and its occupants.

The report did not mention whether any suspects in the plot had been arrested.

Two weeks ago, the Czech government raised the level of alert and increased security at a number of locations, but did not specify why.

See also: Terror Alert in Prague
Terror Alert in Prague - II
Oslo-Prague Link
Oslo-Prague Link - II

Update: It seems that the terror plot is global. Mark Regev, Israel's foreign minister, has issued a statement (JP):

"The Foreign Ministry is aware of attempts by Muslim extremist groups to carry out attacks on Israeli representatives and Jewish communities throughout the world and is taking all the necessary steps in order to prevent them," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told Army Radio on Friday.

Reuters has more here.

Bildt New Swedish FM

Carl Bildt, who was leader of Sweden’s centre-right Moderaterna party from 1986-1999 and Swedish prime minister from 1991-1994, is to be the new foreign minister in the recently elected centre-right government of Fredrik Reinfeldt, Dagens Nyheter reports.

As the DN article states, “over the years Bildt has built up a solid international network of contacts and has held several top international posts, including that of chief EU negotiator in the Balkans during the 1990s. He has extensive contacts with leading politicians in Europe, the US and the Former Soviet Union.”

Other appointments in Fredrik Reinfeldt’s government include Beatrice Ask (Justice Minister), Sven Otto Littorin (Labour Minister), and Anders Borg (Finance Minister).

Carl Bildt’s weblog is here.

AIA News Briefs

Items in today’s AIA Eurasian Secret Services Daily Review:

Russia urges Belarus to end visa-free travel for Georgians

Georgia protests against FSB-backed gangs vandalizing its Moscow Embassy

Russian President fires Karelian FSB and police chiefs

Former chief of district department of Ichkeria’s security service surrendered in Chechnya

FSB active in stepping up efforts to persuade militants to surrender in Ingushetia

United States Secret Service, Russian federal agencies join forces against financial crimes

Russia’s FSB chief interviewed by Moscow weekly

Russian Federal Security Service employee killed in Dagestan

Moscow court extends arrest of research centre head for one more month

Belarus KGB overlooks local fascists

The SIS agent and the KGB: a book on clandestine meetings in dead of night

Three presidential runners in Bulgaria with secret service past

New Romanian intelligence chiefs officially sworn in

Deal with Romania’s Hungarian party allegedly helped to achieve approval of intelligence agencies heads

Russian Government "Legitimizing Xenophobia and Discrimination"

By June of this year, the Sova Information and Analysis Centre in Moscow estimated that 18 people had been killed and over 100 injured as a result of racially motivated crimes in the Russian Federation, many of which involved nationalist-organized attacks on foreigners.

In September, Russian nationalist race riots directed against Caucasus migrants in the Karelian locality of Kondopoga led to widespread destruction of property and businesses.

Now the Moscow Times writes about the effects of the Russian government’s anti-Georgian policy, which targets ethnic Georgians and makes them liable to arrest and officially authorized harassment.

Georgians working at marketplaces and construction sites have been subjected to increased harassment by police in the past few days, national newspapers reported.

Those reports were backed up by a Georgian florist near Belorussky Station. The florist, who would only give her first name, Nino, said she had heard from friends and relatives who work at open-air markets of police harassment. She added that she expected police to raid vendors’ stalls near Belorussky in the near future.

And two Georgian women selling tea and coffee at Timiryazevsky market said they had heard of other raids and detentions of Georgians working at the Cherkizovsky and Lianozovsky markets. The women, who would only give their first names, Marina and Yekaterina, for fear of being deported, added that they had not been harassed themselves.

Also on Wednesday, the Georgian professional arm wrestler Georgy Kvichiani was killed by skinheads in Moscow, Georgian media reported. The reports remain unconfirmed.

“The state is legitimizing xenophobia and discrimination,” said Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy head of the Sova Center, which monitors hate crimes. Kozhevnikova predicted an eruption in the number of assaults on natives of the Caucasus.

The Kosovo Precedent

The European Union’s indecision in the face of Russian pressure on the Kosovo independence issue is plainly showing itself, now that the Georgian crisis has come to a head. Javier Solana, the EU’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy,  has now acknowledged that Kosovo’s campaign for independence could set a precedent for Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, RFE/RL reports.

The tone and manner of Solana’s comments do not give much ground for optimism:

“We are trapped here,” he said. “President Saakashvili is trapped, all of us are trapped in a double mechanism that may have good consequences for one, but not for the other. It may not be a win-win situation — although we should be able to look [for] and find a win-win solution. But it will not be easy.”

Estonian president-elect Toomas Hendrik Ilves has backed up the Georgian government’s request for EU peacekeepers to be sent to Georgia, but a number of other European states, mainly France, Italy and Germany, are afraid of antagonizing Russia. Solana’s further remarks are again not encouraging:

Solana noted that sending EU peacekeepers might not be “the best solution” for Georgia in any case. “I mean, for the moment, we have to see what is the best solution for the security of Georgia,” he said. “[It] may not be peacekeepers, [it] may be something different. But I think to begin committing European peacekeepers there is something that I would not do at this moment. I said what I told you, I told him [Saakashvili].”

The EU foreign-policy chief did not specify what alternative solutions he might have in mind. He did say the EU would continue talking to both Moscow and Tbilisi about the crisis, in a bid to restore confidence.

Meanwhile, Moscow will continue to take maximum advantage of the EU’s hesitation and confusion with regard to this crucial issue.

The Widening Conflict - IV

AT CFR, former United States FSU ambassador-at-large Stephen Sestanovich is interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman on issues surrounding the Georgia-Russia crisis. Sestanovich’s opinion is that the crisis represents only part of a much bigger confrontation between Russia and the West. He believes that Russia is now in the grip of a surge of anti-American and anti-Western feeling which in the post-Soviet period first surfaced there in a significant way during Ukraine’s Orange Revolution - the Russian government and large nationalist-inclined sections of the Russian public saw for the first time the possibility that a revolution of this kind, which had the potential to take their country out of its traditional quasi-Soviet orbit and closer to Western and US political and economic interests, could actually happen in Russia itself.

Now in the conflict with Georgia these politically manipulated apprehensions are gathering strength once again, and Sestanovich believes there is a risk the whole matter may spiral out of control, as Russia’s rage about Georgia’s push for NATO membership continues to grow. After much ranting and fuming on Moscow’s part throughout the 1990s, the accession of the Baltic States to NATO passed off more or less without incident in 2004. But the Kremlin seems to have reserved its wrath for the possibility of a third wave of enlargement (Russia generally favours the term “expansion”) that might also include Ukraine. In the end, Sestanovich thinks, the Russians perceive Georgia’s present political and strategic position as a threat to Russian interests, both regionally and beyond. “They see good relations between the United States and Georgia as provocative,” he says, viewing the present crisis as a classic example of a confrontation where neither side is able to back down sufficiently to enable a resolution, and where pressures of government policy and public opinion continue to build bilaterally. The implications for international security are obvious, and must give rise to concern.

See also: The Widening Conflict
The Widening Conflict - II
The Widening Conflict - III

Karel De Gucht on the Georgia Crisis

A conflict we urgently need to resolve.

Ramzan Kadyrov Turns 30

Via Prague Watchdog (October 4, my tr.):

Ramzan Kadyrov’s birthday to be celebrated in Chechnya under tightened security

By Umalt Chadayev

CHECHNYA – On October 5 the 30th birthday of Chechen Premier Ramzan Kadyrov will be celebrated. Various mass events and a festive concert, which will be held in Gudermes, the republic’s second largest city, are planned for the occasion.

An officer in the Chechen law enforcement agencies says that the Chechen Interior Ministry police have been placed on high alert in preparation for the day. According to him there is a high probability that guerrillas may attempt to carry out a number of attacks during the events.

“The plans for October 5 include the opening of Grozny’s ‘Severnyy’ airport, the inauguration of the House of the Press, the holding of a large concert in the city of Gudermes and other special events in honour of Ramzan Kadyrov’s 30th birthday. It’s highly probable that the leaders of bandit formations will try to carry out some attacks and acts of terrorism and sabotage in order to destabilize the situation,” he says.

“So the police have been placed on high alert. Additional security is being provided at locations of strategic importance. Tomorrow there will be restrictions on the movement of motor traffic in Grozny, and other measures aimed at protecting the safety of the public have also been taken,” the police officer said.

According to the Chechen constitution adopted in 2003 during the presidency of Ramzan’s father, Akhmat Kadyrov (who was killed in an explosion at Grozny’s Dinamo Stadium on May 9 2004), on reaching the age of 30 a citizen of the republic becomes eligible to be chosen president of Chechnya.

Today there are few in Chechnya who doubt that sooner or later Ramzan Kadyrov will assume the republic’s presidency – if not in the immediate, then in the foreseeable future. But for the time being it is his 30th birthday that is about to be celebrated on a lavish scale.

Translated by David McDuff.

Russian Intelligence Helped Hizballah - II

More, this time from MosNews, on the Haaretz and Jane’s Defence Weekly reports on Russo-Syrian aid to Hizballah during the recent Israel-Lebanon conflict:

Syria’s centrality to the collection and transfer of intelligence to Hezbollah is based on separate agreements Damascus signed with Moscow and Tehran on intelligence cooperation.

The agreement with Russia is much older than the one with Iran, which was signed earlier this year.

As happened with the significant numbers of advanced Russian anti-tank missiles procured by Syria and transferred to Hezbollah, Russia found itself operating indirectly in favor of the Lebanese Shi’ite organization in matters of intelligence.

In addition to the profits from arms sales to Syria, the Russo-Syrian intelligence cooperation benefits Moscow in terms of the actual first-hand data collected by the listening posts.

Russia is also involved in assisting Syria to enlarge two of its ports on the Mediterranean, Latakia and Tartus. Reports of this development have emerged only recently.

See also: Russia May Relocate Warships to Syria

Russia and Syria

Russian Intelligence Helped Hizballah

Forcing It

In EDM, defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer considers that Moscow is so desperate for regime change in Tbilisi that it will resort to almost any measures in order to achieve this:

After 9/11 Putin declared himself an ally of the United States and the West in the “War on Terror.” In return, the Kremlin had expected that the post-Soviet space encompassing the Commonwealth of Independent States would be recognized as its undisputed sphere of influence, where Russia could do anything it wishes without any “third party” interfering. The West has never formally or informally recognized such a “sphere” and the Kremlin, together with the Russian military/security/foreign policy elite, has interpreted this as a clear sign of ill intent.

The mirage of a new Russian-led union to replace the old Soviet one has obsessed the Kremlin since the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The ruling elite in Moscow today is split between those who want to recreate the Soviet Union per se and “reformers” who want a new, remodeled Soviet Union (or “Imperial Russia”) with a thriving market economy and a newly armed, professional military imposing itself on its neighbors. As Putin told the country in August 2000, after the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine, “We will overcome it all and restore it all, the military and the navy and the state” (RTR TV, AP, August 24, 2000).

Today the Kremlin seems to feel itself strong enough, thanks to billions of petro-dollars, to enforce its sovereignty on former Soviet republics. Georgia, a small, impoverished country, riddled with separatist problems, may seem to be a good showcase to install a pro-Moscow regime and at the same time kick out the United States, the West, and NATO.

Moscow’s blockade of Georgia will continue and may get worse. Russian officials have threatened to begin mass repatriation of Georgians living in Russia. Hopes have been expressed that the thousands of refugees ethnically cleansed from Russia will, when arriving in Tbilisi, be “more well-disposed toward Moscow” and will overthrow Saakashvili (Strana.ru, October 3).

If the noose of sanctions and pressure fails to achieve regime change, direct military action is possible. The first sortie could be by proxy, using armed separatists supported by “North Caucasian volunteers.” If the proxy forces fail, the regular Russian military could become involved.

Georgian Opposition Protests Outside Russian Embassy

From Civil Georgia:

Activists and leaders from the opposition political parties Republicans, Conservatives and Industrialists, joined by some of the local civil society groups held a protest rally outside the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi on October 4.

Protesters said that the rally was a demonstration of “the Georgian society’s unity” against the background of Russia’s mounting pressure on Georgia.

Georgia/Russia: Updates

From RFE/RL:

Russia Puts Pressure On Georgia In UN

October 4, 2006 — Russia’s UN ambassador has submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council linking the future of a UN observer mission in Georgia with demands that Tbilisi stop “provocative actions” over the breakaway Abkhazia region.

The UN has had observers in Georgia since 1993 monitoring a cease-fire between Georgia and Abkhazia.

The mission’s mandate expires on October 15.

The move comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi, triggered when Georgia arrested four Russian officers last week and accused them of spying.

Georgia released the four on October 3, but Russia has severed all travel links with Georgia in retaliation.

(AFP, AP)

Russia Carrying Out Sweeping Checks On Georgians

October 4, 2006 — Russian authorities are carrying out sweeping checks on Georgian-linked businesses and Georgians living in Russia, according to local media.

The checks came as Russia severed all transport and postal links with Georgia amid a spying row.

On October 2, Georgia handed back four Russian soldiers accused of spying, but Russia is nevertheless proceeding with the sanctions.

MORE: Coverage in Georgian from RFE/RL’s Georgian Service and in Russian from RFE/RL’s Russian Service.
Andrei Kokoshin, the head of the Duma’s CIS Relations Committee, said the lower house of parliament today will pass a statement denouncing the Georgian government’s “anti-Russian” policies.

“[The statement] expresses concern over [Georgia’s] policy of violating human rights and basic democratic freedoms and, of course, the provocative actions against Russian peacekeepers and military personnel,” Kokoshin said.

The Russian parliament is also expected to pass a bill that could ban Georgians working in Russia from wiring money home.

Russia says hundreds of millions of dollars are transferred from Russia to Georgia each year.

(compiled from agency reports)

Russia Warns Georgia Against Blackmail

October 4, 2006 — President Vladimir Putin said today no country, specifically Georgia, should be allowed to use the “language of provocations and blackmail” against Russia.

Putin discussed with lawmakers the arrest last week of four Russian soldiers on spying charges.

The lower house of parliament is expected later today to pass a tough-worded statement denouncing the Georgian government’s policies.

Despite the soldiers’ release on October 2, Russia severed all transport and postal links with Georgia.

Police, meanwhile began sweeping checks on Georgian-linked businesses and Georgians living in Russia.

Authorities closed a Georgian-owned casino in Moscow and raided several other businesses, and said they uncovered a large number of fake visas for Georgian immigrants.

Also, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said today the Russian Navy will continue a training exercise in the Black Sea, ignoring complaints from Georgia.

Ivanov, on a visit to Kyrgyzstan, said Russia would not change its plans “every time [President Mikheil] Saakashvili’s regime sneezes.”

Georgia has called the Russian exercises a threat to security and a breach of the United Nations charter.

(compiled from agency reports)

Russia and the Future of Democracy

Observing the development of the crisis in relations between Moscow and Tbilisi, it’s possible to come to the conclusion that this was a crisis deliberately sparked by the Russian government for two main reasons: in order to create a diversion from the negative global publicity it has received in connection with its energy policy and the Sakhalin 2 project, and in order to demonstrate the new “independent” foreign policy recently outlined by foreign minister Lavrov - a policy principally aimed at challenging U.S. and Western interests around the world.

It has been instructive to watch the cynicism with which Russian government spokesmen and policymakers have formulated and packaged the Georgia crisis, in their attempts to present it as a kind of “mirror-image” of the Israel-Lebanon conflict, complete with captured soldiers, closing of borders, accusations of state terrorism, statements at the United Nations, and more - there is also a dash of mockery of the U.S. position on Iran, with "sanctions" wrapped up in self-righteous rhetoric, to make these crude collective punishments look respectable. Gleb Pavlovsky, the Kremlin’s chief adviser on matters of state propaganda, made it clear that Moscow was not going to expose itself to the kind of criticism experienced by Israel for its use of force against Hizballah in Lebanon, remarking that “Moscow will not go into the Caucasus…like a mousetrap.” The cynicism in the comparison, as in the accusations of “Stalinism”, “banditry” and “state terrorism” levelled at the Georgian government by Putin, lies of course in the fact that in this situation, as usual, Moscow is the aggressor, and also the purveyor of state terror.

In fact, the Israel-Lebanon analogy Russia so keenly seeks to establish may, if inverted from its original form, be useful as an aid to understanding exactly where Moscow has set its sights for the latter half of the first decade of the 21st century, and beyond. As Paul Goble recently pointed out, Russia is at a turning-point, and with the Georgian crisis the point may already have been turned: Moscow is aligning itself once again with the world’s despots and aggressors, forming alliances with forces that seek to destabilize the world economy and global security: Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, China, and even North Korea. This path of realignment really began quite a long time ago, with the supposed ending of the Cold War and the deliberate decision by the Soviet elites to dissolve the Soviet Union. That decision, with its release of forces that had previously been contained by the mechanisms of Soviet power and influence, in particular the forces of radical Islam, led directly to September 11.

It’s in the continuation of this new form of the anti-Western, anti-U.S. axis once represented by the Soviet Union that Russia seeks its future goals and orientation. It might be as well for the West to realize this before too long. And indeed, Vice President Cheney’s remarks at the 2006 Vilnius Conference, with their invocation of the spirit of the Baltic States, of Sakharov, Mindszenty, Walesa, Havel and other resisters of Soviet oppression, presented Russia with a choice between a reversion to the ways and thinking of the past, or an alignment with the West in its struggle to bring democracy to the rest of the world - and in particular, to Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries of the Middle East, It seems that Russia has made its choice - and it has chosen the path of the tyrants, those who, in Cheney’s words “may, for a time, deny the hopes of others, violate the rights of others, and even take the lives of others.” Yet, Cheney went on, “they have no power to inspire hope or to raise the sights of a nation.” Sadly, it is that path of authoritarian nihilism that Russia has chosen, led by people who have betrayed and sold out what was great in that nation’s contribution to the world’s culture.

Russian Intelligence Helped Hizballah

Via AIA:

Jane's: Russian intelligence indirectly helped Hezbollah

During military operation of Israel in the South Lebanon which proceeded from July 12 till August 14 this year, Hezbollah received intelligence data from the radio interception points that are served by the joint Russian-Syrian personnel, Israeli daily Ha’aretz writes, referring to a report by the Jane's Defense Weekly. According to the magazine, participation of the Russian side in transfer of the intelligence information to Hezbollah was indirect. The data received by secret services of Russia, first were transferred to Syria, as there is an agreement signed between Moscow and Damascus on cooperation of intelligences services and exchange of mutually interesting information.

Besides it is marked that the Lebanese insurgents received the information on the Israeli troops from the surveillance centre, located in the Syrian part of the Golan heights and jointly supervised by the Syrian intelligence and Iranian experts. Unlike secret services of Russia with which the Syrian side does cooperate for a long time, arrangement with Iran has been reached only in the past year, adds Ha’aretz.

Detailed information on the Russian secret services' ties with the Hezbollah was first published by AIA already in May 2005. Besides that, in July 2006, AIA prepared a broad analysis on the Russian-Syrian strategic cooperation, in the context of the Lebanon crisis.

Russian Activists Denounce Georgia Embargo

From Civil Georgia:

A group of Russian civil society activists called on the Russian authorities to stop “anti-Georgian hysteria” and “creation of war atmosphere,” the Russian on-line magazine Grani.Ru reported on October 3.

An open letter by number of prominent Russian human rights activists, including Lyudmila Alekseeva, chairperson of Moscow Helsinki Group; Lev Ponomaryov of the For Human Rights (FHR) movement and Elena Bonner reads that Russia’s decision to impose embargo on Georgia will hit the most vulnerable part of the population and the move is a clear sign of “collective punishment.”

“We call on the Russian civil society to announce a moral boycott of those politicians who sow hatred towards Georgia and the Georgian people. We call on politicians and society to openly denounce the blockade against Georgia and preparations for war,” the open letter reads.

Newsline Items

RFE/RL Newsline items (October 3):

RUSSIA IMPLEMENTS TRANSPORT AND MAIL BLOCKADE AGAINST GEORGIA… Russia escalated its dispute with Georgia on October 2, despite the latter’s release of four Russian military officers accused of espionage to the OSCE (see Georgia items below). Moscow’s Transportation Ministry ordered air, road, rail and sea links to be closed as of midnight, RIA-Novosti reported. The Communications Ministry said mail services will also be suspended, the agency reported. Aeroflot announced that it has halted all flights to Georgia. On October 3, Ekho Moskvy radio and Russian news agencies reported that the blockade was being implemented and Georgian citizens traveling to Russia will have to reach Moscow via a third country. Moscow has not cut off natural gas to Georgia, which could be catastrophic for an economy still heavily dependent on Russian imports, according to the “Financial Times.” The newspaper added that the transport blockade, if it proves lengthy and if the State Duma follows through with threats to pass legislation suspending bank transfers, could create significant hardship. State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said on October 2 that the lower house will soon draft a bill that will allow the government to ban the wiring of money to certain countries, ITAR-TASS reported. Aleksei Malashenko, a Caucasus expert at the Moscow Carnegie Center, told “The Moscow Times” that Russia would be unwise to retaliate with sanctions. “Average Georgians, who will feel the brunt of the sanctions, will regard us as an evil empire,” Malashenko said. FF

…BUT RUSSIAN OFFICIALS AVOID LINKING BLOCKADE TO POLITICAL ROW.  Announcing the decision to start a transport and communications blockade with Georgia on October 2, Russian officials avoided making references to the political crisis sparked by the arrests, “The Moscow Times” reported. All Russian ministers instead alleged violations of various agreements by Georgia and declined to say how long the measures would last. Deputy Transportation Minister Sergei Aristov, interviewed by Channel One television, said Georgian air carriers owe $3.6 million for services provided at Russian airports. Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin said he will cancel a planned order worth some $3.75 million for spare parts for electric locomotives from Georgia, ITAR-TASS reported. He also said all rail traffic will be cut off. Information Technology and Communications Minister Leonid Reiman said postal links will be severed. The payment of postal money transfers sent from Russia has often been delayed in Georgia, Reiman was quoted by Interfax as saying. Russia has already banned the import of Georgian wine and mineral water, citing high concentrations of pesticides and the large amount of counterfeit products on the market. FF

DUMA SPEAKER, MIGRATION SERVICE CRITICIZE GEORGIAN IMMIGRANTS TO RUSSIA. State Duma Speaker Gryzlov said on October 2 that “it is also a provocation that some 300,000 illegal immigrants from Georgia work in Russia without official permission, and earn money without paying taxes,” “The Moscow Times” reported. The Federal Migration Service said the same day that more illegal immigrants have entered Russia from Georgia than from any other country, the newspaper reported. “Of the roughly 1 million Georgians who have crossed the border into Russia, just 1 percent are working here legally,” the migration service said in a statement. More than 300,000 Georgians work in Russia, many of them sending money home to relatives on a regular basis. FF

RUSSIAN, U.S. PRESIDENTS DISCUSS STANDOFF… President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush on October 2 discussed the situation surrounding the row between Russia and Georgia, the presidential website kremlin.ru reported. The conversation took place at Bush’s request, the Kremlin said. According to the website, Putin told Bush that any action by a third country could be interpreted by Georgia as encouraging its “destructive” policy. Putin also told Bush that such a situation would be “unacceptable and dangerous for peace and stability in the region,” kremlin.ru reported. Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi have soured since Saakashvili came to power in the Rose Revolution of November 2003 and moved Georgia out of Moscow’s orbit, pursuing EU and NATO membership. Russia has recalled its ambassador from Tbilisi and has evacuated dozens of its diplomats since the beginning of the crisis. Other issues, including Iran and Russia’s efforts to join the World Trade Organization, were also discussed during the presidents’ telephone conversation, according to kremlin.ru. FF

…AS EU URGES RUSSIA TO LIFT BLOCKADE. The European Union urged Russia on October 3 to lift its economic blockade on Georgia or risk deepening the crisis, Reuters reported. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told Reuters in an interview that the EU hopes “that Russia very, very soon lifts these sanctions because sanctions do not, particularly in this case, lead anywhere. There are so many irritants again on either side and therefore it is very important not to provoke and not to be provoked.” OSCE Chairman in Office Karel De Gucht, speaking the previous day in Tbilisi after his talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, called on Russia not to carry through what was at that stage a threat to sever transport links with Georgia. FF

GEORGIA TURNS OVER DETAINED RUSSIAN OFFICERS TO OSCE…  Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili confirmed on October 2 that Georgia has turned over to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE) four Russian military officers recently arrested on espionage charges, Caucasus Press reported. In comments to reporters following a meeting with Belgian Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman in Office Karel De Gucht, Saakashvili explained that “after intensive negotiations,” a decision was  adopted to “transfer the arrested Russian officers to the OSCE” as a “goodwill gesture.” A group of five Russian officers were arrested by Georgian security forces on September 27, with one later released, and a Tbilisi court recently sentenced the other four to a two-month term of pretrial detention (see “RFE/RL Newsline,” September 29 and October 2, 2006). In a televised handover, the Russian officers were escorted by Georgian police to an area outside the Prosecutor-General’s Office, where a statement was read aloud informing them that they have been “accused of the crime of espionage against Georgia” and explaining that they “are being deported from Georgia” and “forbidden to enter Georgian territory,” according to Imedi television. The Russians were then led away to OSCE vehicles parked nearby and soon thereafter departed Georgia via a Russian Emergency Situations Ministry aircraft, ITAR-TASS reported. RG

…BUT WARNS RUSSIA THAT ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.’ In comments during the Tbilisi press conference with OSCE Chairman in Office De Gucht, President Saakashvili warned on October 2 that despite his “goodwill gesture” in turning over the detailed Russians to the OSCE, “the message of Georgia to our great neighbor Russia is, ‘enough is enough,’” Caucasus Press and Georgian Public Television reported.  Saakashvili also noted that “we want to have good relations” with Russia but stressed that “we cannot be treated as a second-rate backyard of some kind of, in the minds of some politicians, reemerging empire.” RG

Fidesz VP Warns of "Uprising"

Lajos Kosa, a senior figure in the Hungarian opposition party Fidesz, has warned that Hungarians may rise up and overthrow the government if Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany does not step down, Reuters reports.

Russia Warns Poland

Via RFE/RL:

October 3, 2006 — Russia has warned Poland against hosting U.S.or NATO missile-defense sites on its territory.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said it could undermine “strategic stability, regional security and relations between Russia and Poland.”

He said Russia would have to take unspecified measures in response and could not rely solely on assurances that a planned U.S. or NATO missile-defense system in Europe would not be directed against Russia.

Kamynin said the issue would be discussed during Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Poland on October 4-5.

The United States has been considering Poland or the Czech Republic for its planned missile-defense system in Eastern Europe.

U.S. officials say the site would be designed to defend the United States and its allies in Europe from ballistic missiles launched from states such as North Korea or Iran.

(Interfax, AP, AFP)

Georgia and Russia Press Review

Civil Georgia has a roundup of press reaction in Georgia and Russia to the latest developments in the crisis between the two countries.

From Georgia’s 24 Saati:

Spy scandal between Russia and Georgia is now over, but relations between the two countries are further deteriorating. Russian officers have returned back to their homeland after the international pressure, but Russia has not given up plan to punish Georgia and decided to impose a total blockade on Georgia…. For Russia any kind of compromise, especially from a small country, means sign of weakness and they push weak to the end. Demonstration of a mentality of a street hooligan has brought little positive to Russia, but this way of thinking by the society and elite inside Russia makes Moscow to act this way.

Lavrov Sees No Need for Mediators

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has told journalists that he sees no need for mediators to be brought in in order to “normalize” relations between Russia and Georgia in the present crisis. “Quite honestly, I see no need for that,” gazeta.ru quotes him as saying.

EU Urges Russia to End Blockade

Via BBC:

The EU has urged Russia to lift economic sanctions it imposed on Georgia in a continuing spying row between the two former Soviet states.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said “sanctions… do not lead anywhere”.

Russia has cut off all transport and postal links with Georgia, despite the release of four Russian officers accused by Tbilisi of spying.

Moscow denies the spying charge while Georgia accuses Russia of bullying.

“We do hope that Russia very, very soon lifts these sanctions,” Ms Ferrero-Waldner told Reuters news agency during a visit to Georgia.

“There are so many irritants again on either side and therefore it is very important not to provoke and not to be provoked,” she said.

Saakashvili Vows to Hunt Down Spies in S. Ossetia and Abkhazia

Via AIA:

02.10.200620:08 (GMT)
President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili said today that although the Georgian government has “neutralized” one network of the Russian intelligence in Georgia, similar groups are operating in breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia, online magazine Civil Georgia reports.

Saakashvili reportedly said that Tbilisi still had this kind of networks on the territories, that the Georgian authorities still did not control, a very small part of mountainous region of South Ossetia and also 70 per cent of territory of Abkhazia. He added that lately Tbilisi restored control over 30 per cent of Abkhazia [referring to upper Kodori Gorge]. So on these territories there still are this kind of intelligence networks, according to Saakashvili. Civil Georgia writes that the President vowed “to find them, get them and held them responsible”. He also denied allegations of the Abkhaz authorities that Georgia was mobilizing its troops on the Senaki military base in western Georgia, online magazine says.

Russia Begins Airlift to Lebanon

AP notes that Russia has started to airlift a military engineering unit to Lebanon:

RIA-Novosti quoted Russian air force commander Vladimir Mikhailov as saying that the first flight carrying 17 soldiers and 80 tons of equipment left Tuesday morning and a second plane was scheduled to leave with 130 troops aboard.

In the next 3 days, Russia will send about 300 soldiers and some 130 tons of equipment. The primary task of the soldiers will be to repair bridges damaged during the recent conflict.

The force is not part of the 5,000 strong peacekeeping contingent in South Lebanon, to which Russia has not contributed.

The Red Rag and the Bull

In its report on the Georgia crisis, Finland's main Swedish-language newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet includes a short interview with Dr. Svante Cornell of the Central Asia- Caucasus Institute Silk Road Studies Program in Uppsala, Sweden. In the interview, Cornell says (my tr.) that

it's not a foregone conclusion that the release of the Russian officers will thaw the now extremely frosty relations between the two countries, or that the sanctions imposed by the Russian side will immediately be lifted.

"Implicitly the Russians are threatening a war. They've recalled their ambassador, their staff, they're cutting the lines of communication. What has to be realized is that the Russians see this whole episode as a big provocation.

- - - - - - -

"I am not sure that this is going to blow over. Their positions are extremely locked. For President Vladimir Putin Saakashvili is like a red rag to a bull. This is a good excuse for Russia to tighten the thumbscrews on Georgia," says Cornell.

Putin Warns Bush

Vladimir Putin has warned President Bush against supporting the Georgian government in the present crisis between Russia and Georgia, lenta.ru reports.

Retaliation

Victor Yasmann, writing for RFE/RL, considers that Moscow is unlikely to take military action against Georgia, as it would only rally international support from President Saakashvili. However, Yasmann thinks, a number of retaliatory options are open to Moscow, and some will probably be taken. He lists the following:

Diplomatic measures could include continuing to halt visas issued to Georgian citizens (this began shortly after the crisis began), the arrest of Georgian intelligence officials in Moscow, and the expulsion of diplomatic and military staff from Russia. Russia has already withdrawn its ambassador and evacuated Russian civilians and diplomats from Georgia. Moscow, however, is wary of completely cutting off relations with Tbilisi as this would set a dangerous precedent for other CIS countries and could lead to a further breakdown in commonwealth relations.

Political measures could include pressure on Georgia through the European Union, the United Nations, or the United States. But this could be problematic as the United States and Britain have already blocked in the UN Security Council the draft of a resolution critical of Georgia introduced by the Russian delegation on September 30. And perhaps Moscow has also been discouraged by the recent introduction of a bill in the U.S. Senate supporting Georgia’s accession to NATO. The bill is being spearheaded by Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist and has bipartisan support.

In terms of possible military pressure, the “shoot-to-kill” order, given to Russian troops based in Georgia, still remains. But Russia’s Defense Ministry has also announced its Black Sea Fleet will carry out naval games off the Georgian coast. Russia is also pushing for nonporous borders. On September 28, Putin visited a Federal Security Service (FSB) border-troops station in the Abkhazian sector of the Russian-Georgian border. Putin demanded that the border be sealed from the “Black to the Caspian seas.” Russia, however, is cautious of overplaying its military hand. The Kremlin is wary of rallying world opinion against it as in the case of Israel’s use of force against Hizballah in Lebanon, which was criticized by many as excessive. As one Kremlin adviser, Gleb Pavlovsky, said, “Moscow will not go into the Caucasus…like a mousetrap.”

Estimates vary, but it’s possible up to 1.5 million ethnic Georgians, both Russian and Georgian citizens, live and work in Russia. They send remittances home that Russia says could be worth up to $2 billion every year, up to 20 percent of Georgia’s gross domestic product (GDP). Georgia says the figure is much lower, with the National Bank of Georgia estimating that in the first eight months of this year Georgians transferred $219 million back home. In comparison, the export of wine — which was banned by Russia earlier this year — contributes only 3 percent of Georgian GDP. According to Viktor Militarev from the Moscow-based National Strategy Institute, in order to disrupt money transactions, Russia could use the pretext of an “anti-money-laundering operation.” Russia could also disrupt labor migration by refusing to issue Georgians visas and by deporting those Georgians that already live in Russia. According to the head of Russia’s Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, last year 321,000 Georgians entered Russia on tourist and nonworking private visas and only 4,500 of them received work permits, TV-Tsentr reported on September 28. Romodanovsky proposed visa restrictions and sending home those “who are working or staying on our territory illegally.” He also complained “about the disproportionately high percentage of criminals among Georgian migrants.” On September 29, Moscow police began Operation Terek in which 1,500 people from the Caucasus, many of them Georgians, were detained.

Russia has already begun to sever transport links with Georgia. The country’s Transport and Communications ministries today ordered all postal, air, rail, road, and sea links with Georgia suspended.It is unlikely that the Kremlin will target Georgia’s energy infrastructure, as much of it is used to transport oil, gas, and electricity to Moscow-friendly Armenia.

Tensions Seem To Remain

As this report from Civil Georgia makes clear, the release of the Russian officers is, in President Saakashvili’s words, ‘a gesture towards [Georgia’s] western friends’ and no way a response to threats voiced by the Russia leadership.”

However, some uncertainty remains concerning Russia’s response, and the further outcome of the crisis:

Meanwhile in Moscow, the Russian authorities announced on October 2 about intentions to cut air link[s] with Tbilisi starting from October 3. The announcement came shortly before the release of Russian officers and it was not immediately clear whether the measure will be enforced anyway after the release of the officers.

Russian Deputy Transport Minister said that non-payment of USD 3,6 million by Georgian air companies for air traffic service by Russia since 2001 is a reason behind the decision.

Also earlier on October 2, Russian Duma Council Chairman Boris Grizlov said that Russian MPs from the lower house of the Parliament will develop a law authorizing the government to ban money transfers from Russia into “certain countries” in “cases of emergency.”

Also,  according to gazeta.ru, GRVZ commander Andrei Popov told journalists this evening that Russian forces will remain on high alert for the time being.

Tbilisi Gains Points

In EDM, Zaal Anjaparidze takes a close look at the Russia-Georgia crisis (written before today's release of the four Russian intelligence officers), and sees some points of advantage for Georgia as the country draws closer to the West, and to Western ways of doing things:

TBILISI NEUTRALIZES ALLEGED RUSSIAN SPY RING, GAINS POLITICAL MILEAGE

The arrest of four Russian military intelligence officers and eleven alleged accomplices in Georgia on September 27-28 is part of Tbilisi’s ongoing efforts to neutralize a purported Russian spy network in Georgia. Two weeks earlier, on September 6, Tbilisi claimed to have averted a coup by arresting dozens of Russia-financed, pro-Moscow activists who reportedly were plotting to remove the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili by force (see EDM, September 14). In March, after the arrest of the alleged Russian mole Simon Kiladze, an employee of the presidential administration, Saakashvili publicly guaranteed the safety of any Georgians collaborating with foreign intelligence who would give themselves up before May 1 (see EDM, March 31).

The Russian officers and Georgian citizens are being held on charges of espionage, while the Georgian citizens also stand accused of high treason. Georgian law enforcement provided evidence in the form of recorded telephone conversations between the detainees and video footage made by a hidden camera showing one of the Russians handing over money to an undercover Georgian agent (www.police.ge).

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told a news conference on September 27 that for “months and years” the arrested military intelligence (GRU) operatives and their Georgian collaborators had been gathering sensitive economic, political, and military information, including developments in Georgia-NATO relations. Merabishvili said the group was planning “serious provocations,” but he did not provide details (TV-Rustavi-2, September 27). According to him, GRU Colonel Anatoly Sinitsin directed the group from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. In fact, most of the Georgian citizens under arrest are ethnic Armenians.

On September 29, a Tbilisi court sentenced the four Russian officers — Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Savva, Lt. Col. Dimitry Kazantsev, Lt. Col. Alexei Zavgorodny, and Major Alexander Baranov — to two months in pre-trial detention. Ten of the Georgian citizens were also remanded to custody. On September 29, videotaped confessions surfaced showing five of the arrested Georgian citizens admitting to cooperating with Russian intelligence. The court session was closed to the media until the sentencing phase, because the Russian officers reportedly had planned to make a statement for the press. None of the Russians pleaded guilty, and they dismissed their arrests as “provocations.”

The incident has escalated the already tense relations between the two countries. Russia recalled its ambassador from Tbilisi and evacuated most of its embassy staff and their families. Givi Targamadze, chair of Georgian parliament’s committee on defense and security, assumed that several key intelligence officers slipped out with the evacuees (Resonansi, September 29). Russian officials have responded with bellicose statements and hold a number of retaliatory options, including reprisals against the sizeable Georgian diaspora and labor migrants in Russia, financial sanctions, energy cuts, and ties with the secessionist factions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia (Ekho Moskvy, September 29). On September 30, Russia halted the scheduled withdrawal of its troops from Georgia.

Yesterday, October 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Tbilisi of provoking Russia. He said that even with support from foreign sponsors, Saakashvili’s government cannot feel “comfortable and secured.” Nevertheless, Putin instructed the military to resume the scheduled Russian troop drawdown. Putin suggested that Saakashvili’s policies might lead to troublesome results in the long-run (Strana.ru, Vesti, October 1-2).

Most Georgian pundits brushed away dire predictions about Moscow’s response, arguing that increased international support for Georgia will discourage tough Russian measures. Some pundits, however, warned that Russian dominance in the Georgian energy sector might create problems (TV-Imedi, September 28-29; Resonansi, September 29; Prime News, September 30).

Saakashvili’s government has given the spy row wide publicity, which has been picked up by the international media. On September 29, Saakashvili stated that Georgia’s actions deserved “overwhelming approval” and “understanding” from the international community. “Georgia has never been as protected as it is nowadays,” Merabishvili added, alluding to the international support (TV-Rustavi-2, September 29). Some Georgian media even speculated that the United States was behind the arrests of the Russian officers, and suggested they might be exchanged for U.S. or British intelligence officers arrested in Moscow (Alia, September 28). Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili and other officials hinted that, as a gesture of goodwill, Tbilisi might repatriate the GRU officers to Russia after a guilty verdict (TV-Imedi, September 29).

Indeed, Georgian sources report, with reference to AP and Reuters, that Georgia might hand over the Russian officers to the OSCE Chairman-in-office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht who is arriving in Tbilisi today and is expected to have a joint news conference with Saakashvili.

The spy row has left Saakashvili’s opposition no other choice to demonstrate, although cautiously, solidarity to the authorities. The New Rights and Georgia’s Way parties stated that government must think about the fate of Georgians living in Russia and cautioned against excessively provoking Moscow (TV-Imedi, Civil Georgia, September 29). On October 1, the opposition Republican and Conservative parties called on all political groups to rally outside the Russian Embassy on Wednesday, October 4, to demonstrate a united front against the Russian threat (TV-Rustavi-2, October 1).

Once portrayed as feeble and corrupt, the Georgian special services now appear to have transformed thanks to increased cooperation with Western colleagues. Okruashvili and Merabishvili said that several other Russia-guided spy groups are operating in Georgia and that domestic traitors pose even higher threat than foreign spies (TV-Imedi, TV-Rustavi-2, September 29). Merabishvili also noted that there are still many people in Georgia who have been “accustomed to openly collaborating with foreign special services for many years.”

NATO Chief to Visit Moscow

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will make a one-day official visit to Moscow on October 26, gazeta.ru reports.

'Handover Ceremony' Aired Live

Via Civil Georgia:

Georgian television stations aired live footage of the handover of four Russian military officers charged with spying to the OSCE on October 2.

The handover took place in front of the Georgian General Prosecutor’s Office.

A police guard escorted four Russian officers from the building of the General Prosecutor’s Office and then an official from the prosecutor’s office read the official accusations to each of the suspects.

“You are accused of espionage against Georgia… for this reason you are being expelled from the country. Starting from this moment, you are banned from entering the territory of Georgia,” the statement read in part.

Then a delegation of the OSCE led by Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, and accompanied by Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili appeared in the yard.

Following Deputy Interior Minister Eka Zguladze’s announcement that Georgia is handing over the spy suspects to the OSCE, the police guard escorted the Russian officers to OSCE cars, which took them to the Tbilisi airport. The Russian Emergency Ministry sent its plane on October 2 to return the officers to Russia.

Russia Cannot Rule Out Military Action

Via Xinhua (Oct. 2):

Russia cannot rule out military action in dealing with mounting tensions with neighboring Georgia, the daily Kommersant reported on Monday.

"All diplomatic steps that are usually taken in such strained relations have been exhausted ... The next action could be the breaking of diplomatic relations and a military operation," the report warned, quoting an unnamed source with Russia's Defense Ministry.

Russia Accuses U.S.

From Kommersant:

/ Russia and the U.S. are fighting over Georgia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has openly accused the West of throwing its weight behind Georgia, saying Georgian authorities act “with support of foreign sponsors.” Thus he has made clear that Moscow in fact fights Washington rather than Tbilisi in the current Russian-Georgian conflict. Russia and the United States have entered an open struggle over Georgia and do not even try to hide it.

Russia Makes a Threat

Vladimir Putin said yesterday at a session with permanent members of the Russian Security Council in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence who actually is behind the spy scandal in Georgia and arrests of Russian officers. “There are forces whose job is to create more new crises, thinking that it will distract attention from old problems,” the president said. “It may have this effect in the short term outlook. But it will hardly help settle old deep-rooted international crises.”

Russia Cuts Traffic With Georgia

Via Civil Georgia:

Russian news agencies reported that the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation has announced the suspension of air, sea, railway and land traffic with Georgia.

Officials from the Russian Transport Ministry cited the debts of Georgian air companies for air traffic service as a reason behind the decision.

“Because of the numerous cases of bankruptcy of the Georgian air companies the total debt of the Georgian air companies towards the Russian side for air traffic service has reached USD 3,6 million since 2001. We also have serious questions in respect to sea, land and railway traffic,” Sergey Aristov, the Russian Transport Ministry’s official representative, said in remarks broadcasted on Russian television.

Officials in Tbilisi say that no official notification about the decision has been received from the Russian side.

Georgia to Hand Russian Officers to OSCE

Via BBC:

Georgia has said it will hand over to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe four Russian military officers charged with spying.

A spokesman for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said the transfer "ceremony" would take place on Monday.

Russia-Georgia Updates

* OSCE head Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht has flown to Tbilisi to help to moderate the conflict.

* Russia has destroyed more than 70,000 litres of Georgian-produced alcohol, officially due to concerns about its quality. Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief health inspector, used the term "terrorial-national formation" when describing Georgia.

* Georgian TV channel Rustavi-2 reports that 13 Georgian citizens have been detained in Moscow for "visa irregularities".

* Russian State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov has reiterated Putin's charge of "state terrorism" in relation to the arrests of the GRU officers.

* Russia has protested about an attempt by European parliamentarians at PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, of which it is a member) to bring up the subject of the Georgia-Russia crisis there. Russia's representative Konstantin Kosachev is quoted as saying:

"Taking into account the existing moods in the assembly, known by the fact that traditionally europarliamentarians, regardless of the essence of the problem, always support the "weak "state, the Russian delegation has come out against this initiative, noting that it does not considered the platform of the Assembly to be a suitable place for explaining the current conflict situation between member states of the Council of Europe".

Saakashvili: Russia is Over-reacting

From RFE/RL:

Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the arrests as “an act of state terrorism with hostage taking.” Putin also described Georgia’s action as reminiscent of the police state of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Late the same day, Saakashvili dismissed the harsh reaction. He said “it is an overreaction caused by nervousness that they have created themselves.”

“Now, President Putin, I heard him calling the demise of the Soviet Union the greatest tragedy of the 20th century,” Saakashvili said. “Well, it was the happiest day of my life, certainly, so this is something on which we cannot agree, as well I cannot agree on making some connection between us and any legacy of KGB type of Stalin’s past.”

Saakashvili also rejected a suggestion by Putin that Washington was “creating” crises to worsen ties between Russia and Georgia.

“We’ve been hearing statements lately: ‘Oh this has been decided in Washington,’” Saakashvili said. “Well, I think [the U.S.] State Department made it very clear — this is a bilateral issue between Georgia and Russia.”

Russia recalled its ambassador from Tbilisi, evacuated most of its diplomatic and military staff from Georgia following the detention on September 27 of four of its army officers.

Putin Heightens Georgia Tensions

It looks as though Moscow may be preparing to make a strong response to the arrest of its intelligence officers in Tbilisi. Putin has begun to use extremely unguarded language, accusing the Georgian government of "terrorism", employing inverted Stalinist metaphors, and threatening unspecified measures.

This does not look good for the further outcome of the crisis.

At the same time, however, in a typical move, Putin has called for the withdrawal of Russian federal troops from Georgia to continue (gazeta.ru).

There is a BBC report to be found here.

Less is now being heard of the UN initiative pressed by Moscow a few days ago, mainly aimed at securing a condemnation of Georgia in favour of the Russian side.

The Reuters report includes an official Georgian response to Putin's remarks:

Georgian parliamentarian Giga Bokeria, a close ally of President Mikhail Saakashvili, called Putin's statement "an act of open aggression and hysteria".

"Russia just cannot stand the fact that Georgia is an independent country," he told Reuters.

International Efforts Underway to Defuse Russo-Georgian Tensions

Via Civil Georgia / 2006-10-01 15:04:10:

International efforts are underway to help defuse increasing tension between Russia and Georgia, after the latter arrested and charged four Russian officers with espionage.

On October 1, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said he is in contact with the Russian and Georgian leadership and even expressed readiness to travel to the region to mediate in solving the problem.

"I appeal to all concerned parties to abide by the principles of international law, to abstain from provocations, to establish direct dialogue and to find a quick solution. I will remain in contact with all the relevant parties and work towards this end," the Chairman-in-Office said.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana phoned President Saakashvili late on September 30 and urged for caution “against the risk of further escalation,” Solana’s press office said on Sunday.

“High Representative Solana encouraged President Saakashvili to find an early solution to the dispute with Russia and expressed his support for efforts underway… He also confirmed his readiness to facilitate contacts between the sides.”

On September 29, President Saakashvili also talked via phone with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili hinted on September 29 that Georgia may extradite arrested Russian officers only in case of request by the Georgia’s western partners.

“They [the Russian authorities] have only one resource at their disposal: to convince our foreign friends to [recommend] us to show a good will and expel these people [spy suspects] out of the country,” Okruashvili said.

Meanwhile in Tbilisi, the Headquarters of the Russian Troops in Trans-Caucasus remains sealed off by the unarmed Georgian policemen. Tbilisi alleges that one more Russian officer, also suspected of espionage, is sheltering in the Headquarters.

Also on Sunday, the opposition Republican and Conservative parties announced about their plans to hold a protest rally outside the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi on October 4 in an effort “to show unity” among the political forces in Georgia, amid tensions with Russia. They have called all the political parties to put aside election campaigning ahead of the October 5 and to join the protest rally.

Reportedly only two diplomats and security guard remain in the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi, as rest of the staff and their family members have already left for Russia as part of “the partial evacuation” announced by Moscow after four officers were arrested.

Lenta.ru: GRVZ Siege Lifted

Lenta.ru quotes RIAN in a report that the siege of the GRVZ (Group of Russian Troops in Transcaucasia) headquarters building in Tbilisi has been lifted, and that only a few military police are now checking the documents of those who enter and leave the premises.  The building had been ringed by Georgian interior ministry troops and military police since September 27, and the Georgian government had demanded the surrender of Russian GRU (military intelligence) serviceman Lt.-Col. Konstantin Pichugin, who was believed to be hiding inside.

RIAN has an English-language report here.