| Abkhazia's demarche distracted Tbilisi from South Ossetia The Georgian authorities found themselves in time trouble last weekend - Tbilisi needs to put out fires in South Ossetia, and then Abkhazia announced its withdrawal from the negotiation process. Georgian State Minister Georgy Khaindrava is confident that “these are links in a single chain.” Tbilisi is convinced that this “chain” is forged in Moscow.
The Prime Minister of Abkhazia Raul Khadzhimba announced that Sukhumi was suspending participation in the negotiations. The Abkhazians explain their demarche by the actions of Georgian border guards against a Turkish cargo ship that was fired upon on the way to Abkhazia. Tbilisi has previously stated that ships heading to Abkhazia must undergo appropriate customs procedures. This year this is not the first time that Georgian border guards have detained violators of the Abkhaz section of the water area. But such a harsh reaction followed for the first time. Everything looks as if Mr. Khajimba is a “lawyer of Turkey,” Georgiy Khaindrava told VN.
Tbilisi will have to be torn between two fronts. Before this, it was believed that Abkhazia could be postponed “for later” and dealt with after the presidential elections, which will be held in the unrecognized republic on October 3. As for South Ossetia, skirmishes involving guns and mortars are, unfortunately, becoming regular. Afterwards, the parties accuse each other of breaking the agreements.
Yesterday, the Georgian side announced that after a night shootout near the village of Prisi, two Georgian servicemen were wounded. According to Tbilisi, the South Ossetian side opened mortar fire. In response, Tskhinvali issued a statement that the village of Prisi was shelled by Georgians; moreover, the operation was allegedly personally led by the head of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Irakli Okruashvili. The latter, commenting on the night's events, said that the Georgian side returned fire, as a result of which six Ossetian soldiers were killed. “This is not true,” Robert Guliyev, head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia, told VN. “We had no dead or wounded.” “On the Georgian side, the ambulance appeared twice.”
Meanwhile, both peoples are suffering, because both Georgian and Ossetian villages mosaically adjoin Tskhinvali. “Georgian diplomacy is failing with the Abkhazians and Ossetians. The negotiation process, which includes the concept of “nobility,” is beyond Georgia’s capacity at this stage,” says the official statement of the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee. Tskhinvali claims that instructors transferred from the Pankisi Gorge have appeared among the Georgian military: these are Kists, that is, ethnic Chechens.
Peacekeepers say that they are not able to fully carry out their duties. The commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, Major General Svyatoslav Nabzdorov, complains that he is not given the opportunity to begin patrolling the areas from which fire is fired at night and to set up additional posts. According to the general, Georgian villages initially supported the decision to be controlled by peacekeepers. But the representative of the President of Georgia in the region, Mikheil Kareli, and the head of the regional police, Alexander Sukhitashvili, opposed it, allegedly “provoking the population.” Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi |
|
