Translated material
Saakashvili appeals to the UN
Georgian leader blames Russia
The sharp speech of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly further aggravated the situation in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict and, it seems, further worsened Georgia's relations with Russia. The Abkhaz are urgently strengthening their army group on the border of contact with Georgian units, transferring additional armored vehicles and artillery there. As Foreign Minister of the unrecognized republic Sergei Shamba told Vremya Novostey, the alarmed UN will even send diplomats from its peacekeeping department to Abkhazia in the coming days to prevent the conflict from escalating.“What was a Russian lieutenant colonel doing in the forests of Georgia? Organizing and leading a group of armed rebels for a terrorist mission? Isn’t Russia’s territory enough?” - Mikheil Saakashvili asked these questions from the rostrum of the General Assembly, talking about the clash in Abkhazia on September 20, when Georgian special forces killed two servicemen, Russian citizens, and captured seven. The investigation into the incident continues to be carried out by UN observers and Russian peacekeepers, who have been serving in Abkhazia since 1994 under a CIS mandate.
Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, spoke about the attack on an anti-terrorism training center in the part of the Kodori Gorge controlled by Abkhazia: “During a routine training, they were attacked by the invading Georgian military, two Russian instructors, who naturally have a military background, were wounded, and then finished off with a knife and a shot in the head.”
Sergei Shamba told a newspaper correspondent that “those killed were Russian military personnel, but they had retired.” “One of them, Lieutenant Colonel Igor Muzovatkin, previously served in the peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia. They trained our soldiers under contract. If the Americans are training the Georgian military, why can’t the Russians help our armed forces?” said Mr. Shamba. “The picture is clear - the Georgians have invaded our territory. We hope that the UN Security Council will condemn these actions of Georgia,” he added. According to Sergei Shamba, DNA analysis of the victims will be carried out in Germany.
In Tbilisi, they believe that the participation of Russian military personnel, even retired ones, in the preparation of the Abkhaz army is a new reason to talk about Moscow’s patronage of the separatists. The “extreme” ones are the peacemakers. Speaking in New York, Saakashvili demanded a change in the format of the operation: “I call on the UN to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the peacekeeping process, which should lead to a change in the format of negotiations. The so-called peacekeepers must be replaced by neutral forces. Every day without resolution of the conflict is another day mistrust. What we need is not the preservation of the status quo, but a settlement." He called the current model of peacekeeping “dangerous.”
Saakashvili also accused Russia of escalating the situation around South Ossetia, saying that “Russian representatives are actively and illegally building a new military base there in the small town of Java.”
“For the first time, Georgia told the whole world the truth about the negative role of Russia from such a high rostrum. We will continue to repeat this, and this will certainly lead to a change in the format of the settlement process,” Konstantin Gabashvili, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Georgian Parliament, told Vremya Novostey. Previously, Ukraine, the Baltic countries and some Eastern European states expressed their readiness to send their military to Georgia under a UN mandate.
The Georgian president's call to oust the CIS (actually Russian) peacekeepers from the conflict zone coincided with the anniversary of the start of the unprecedented crisis between Moscow and Tbilisi in the fall of 2006. Russia has still not lifted the sanctions it imposed against Georgia, which arrested four Russian officers on suspicion of espionage.
Meanwhile, Abkhazians call for maintaining the current format of peacekeeping. “This format has been agreed upon by all parties, and we are against changing it, and Russia is unlikely to agree to this in the UN Security Council,” said Sergei Shamba. According to him, if Georgia unilaterally demands the withdrawal of peacekeepers, and it has such a right, then the place of the Russian “blue helmets” will be taken by the Abkhaz military: “We ourselves will protect our territory. But then the parties will come into direct contact, which is only fraught with worsening situation."
On Friday night, Russia and Georgia will attempt to explain themselves. A meeting of Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Gela Bezhuashvili will take place in New York. However, the head of the Georgian Foreign Ministry stated in advance that he “has no illusions” and admitted that it is now useless to discuss holding the previously planned meeting of the presidents of the two countries. According to the head of Georgian diplomacy, “there are too many questions.” “It would be better if he (Bezhuashvili) had answers than questions,” Sergei Lavrov told reporters.