| Tbilisi scares rebel autonomy with tanks and trains The Georgian Ministry of Defense began yesterday the transfer of tanks, armored personnel carriers and Grad multiple rocket launchers to the South Ossetian direction. The representative of the military department, Irakli Chikovani, explained to VN that some of the armored vehicles are returning to their permanent location in Gori after the parade in Tbilisi on May 26 in honor of Independence Day. According to him, repaired equipment, which the previous leadership of the Ministry of Defense designated for decommissioning, is also being sent to Gori. The city of Gori, the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, is located just 30 km from the administrative border of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia.
Irakli Chikovani said that not only this area will be strengthened. According to him, “already on Friday the brigade stationed in Kutaisi will be replenished with armored vehicles.” But in Tskhinvali, in the context of the events of recent days, this message did not cause relief. The chairman of the South Ossetian Information and Press Committee, Irina Gagloeva, told VN that the Georgian side launched a “psychological attack” against Tskhinvali. “Under certain circumstances, all this could end in a resumption of armed conflict. Our people are nervous,” Ms. Gagloeva said.
Tskhinvali residents remember the blockade of their hometown during the Georgian-Ossetian armed conflict of 1989-1992. The location of the city is unfavorable for the defenders. Guardsmen of Zviad Gamsakhurdia positioned artillery on a hill and fired at Tskhinvali with direct fire. The city was also under fire from snipers. It is clear why the appearance of any armored vehicles near Tskhinvali, from which, in fact, the territory of a small (up to 90 thousand population, and almost all are citizens of Russia) unrecognized republic begins, causes panic.
For now, the Georgian authorities emphasize that they intend to limit themselves to a “psychological attack.” “Everything will be done slowly, gradually and consistently, very systematically and meaningfully. We are not going to make sudden movements,” Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said yesterday. “Residents of the Tskhinvali region are our fellow citizens. We will build a railway there, arrange the payment of pensions, We will transfer agricultural fertilizers to the local population."
In approximately the same way, in early May they exhorted the Adjarians, trying to get the autonomy to stop trusting its now former leader, Aslan Abashidze. Tbilisi emphasizes the intensification of the opposition in South Ossetia. Chairman of the Defense and National Security Committee of the Georgian Parliament Giorgi Targamadze said yesterday that Tskhinvali leader Eduard Kokoity is supported by no more than 1% of the population of South Ossetia. “The population only mentions this man as a bandit who has his own bandit group,” the parliamentarian said.
“It would be better if they began to withdraw their military from the borders of South Ossetia on time, as was agreed upon in Tskhinvali at the negotiations on June 1,” Boris Chochiev, Minister of Special Assignments of the unrecognized republic, noted to VN. According to him, the withdrawal did not begin yesterday afternoon. This was also confirmed to VN by the Chief of Staff of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF), Colonel Yuri Akhmetov. According to him, “the peacekeepers will collect all the facts of compliance or non-compliance with the agreements on the withdrawal of Georgian military personnel and will report to the co-chairs of the Joint Control Commission in Tbilisi on June 15.”
Meanwhile, Georgia has actively taken up the restoration of a four-kilometer section of the railway between Tskhinvali and the Georgian village of Nikozi in the Gori region, where the headquarters of the Georgian peacekeeping battalion from the JPKF is stationed. The Blue Helmets, whose quota from the current 100 to 500 military personnel Georgia began filling yesterday, have experience serving in Kosovo. Thanks to “public diplomacy”, in recent years buses and minibuses have been running between the capitals of Georgia and South Ossetia.
Yesterday, Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Zhvania took part in the ceremony to begin work on restoring railway communication. “South Ossetia was and will be Georgia, this is our native land,” the prime minister said. It only takes a week to revive the steel line. The restoration of the canvas is financed by the European Union, which has allocated a grant of 400 thousand euros. Georgia invited Tskhinvali railway workers to take part in the work, guaranteeing them a salary. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sakartvelos Rkinigza LLC (Georgian Railway) David Onoprishvili promised that railway workers from Tskhinvali who take part in the repairs will then receive permanent work in their specialty. Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi |
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