| The Russian President found the cause of the crisis in South Ossetia The escalating conflict between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali received an emotional assessment yesterday from the lips of the top Russian leadership. Vladimir Putin called the current Georgian-South Ossetian conflict “a relapse of what happened in the early 90s.” He said that we are talking about conflicts that arose after the collapse of the USSR, when “Georgia suddenly announced that it was terminating the autonomous status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.” “Ethnic conflicts began with this stupid decision,” the Russian president noted.
In fact, the Russian president hinted that the current Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili had fallen into a “relapse” from the policies of the times of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who made fateful decisions to abolish the autonomy of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Let us recall that 14 years ago South Ossetia, a former autonomous region within the Georgian SSR, declared itself a republic. In response, the Gamsakhurdia government completely deprived South Ossetia of all autonomy. In Georgia, the former region is now called either Samachablo (from the local princely family Machabeli) or Shida Kartli (Inner Kartli).
It is possible that the nationalist-minded Gamsakhurdia really made a “stupid” decision at that time, which closed the door to reconciliation. However, we must not forget that it was born in the wake of the all-Union “parade of sovereignties”, which by that time also covered South Ossetia. As State Minister for Conflict Resolution Georgy Khaindrava told Vremya Novostey, Tbilisi is now ready to negotiate on the status of South Ossetia in order to fully resolve the consequences of the armed conflict of 1989-1992.
Vladimir Putin resolutely rejected the version that the conflict in South Ossetia is acquiring a bilateral Russian-Georgian character. “Nothing like this has happened and cannot happen,” he emphasized. “We are ready to play the role of a mediator and guarantor of agreements that can be reached if there is good will.” But President Putin is not yet planning to go to Georgia personally. “My trip would be inappropriate in this situation,” he said.
However, the military conflict needs to be extinguished quickly. Yesterday, the co-chairs of the Mixed Control Commission for the Georgian-Ossetian settlement tried their best to bring forward the long-awaited meeting between Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and the President of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity. Tbilisi believes that until Mr. Kokoity gets involved, tensions will not be relieved. Preparatory negotiations have already taken place in Tskhinvali. The Georgian prime minister confirmed that he was ready to meet with the South Ossetian leader.
On Wednesday night there was another shooting in South Ossetia. As the commander of the Georgian peacekeeping battalion of the Mixed Peacekeeping Forces, Alexander Kiknadze, told Vremya Novostei, as a result, two Georgian servicemen were killed and five were injured. Deputy Minister of Defense of South Ossetia Ibragim Gassiev, in an interview with Vremya Novostey, completely rejected the version of the involvement of Ossetian formations in the night shelling. In other words, the question of an unknown “third force” provoking the parties to shoot is still relevant. Regarding the bloody night shelling, Georgian Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze said that the Georgian side will respond to them “energetically”: “So much so that it doesn’t seem like enough!”
It is not surprising that last night the territory of South Ossetia came under fire again. As stated by the Minister of Defense of the unrecognized republic, Colonel Anatoly Barankevich, they fired from 152-mm guns. The minister said that he asked his Georgian colleague not to shoot until a “third force” was discovered, which was allegedly firing at the Georgian military on the bypass road around Tskhinvali.
On Wednesday, Chief of the Georgian General Staff Giorgi Iukuridze and Commander of Internal Troops Giorgi Tavtukhashvili headed to South Ossetia. Ibragim Gassiev revealed to Vremya Novostei some details of these negotiations. According to him, the Ministry of Defense and internal troops of South Ossetia agree to leave only one of the four posts on the Pris Heights, dominating Tskhinvali, provided that Russian peacekeepers are stationed there. Tbilisi claims that Georgian posts and villages are being shelled from these heights. In response, Tskhinvali demands that peacekeeping observation posts be set up in the Georgian village of Tamarasheni, adjacent to the capital of the unrecognized republic.
But for some reason the military has not yet been able to make concrete decisions. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov yesterday assessed the situation in the conflict area as “very alarming.” The conflict, he said, will continue “until a ceasefire agreement is reached through political methods, which will be strictly controlled, and until all illegal armed groups are withdrawn from there.”
Meanwhile, Tbilisi has chosen a course towards internationalizing the problem of settlement in South Ossetia. Georgians trust Russia less and less as a mediator, calling it “an accomplice of the separatists.” Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili went to Vienna to present the views of the Georgian side of the OSCE. A visit to Georgia by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi, is not excluded.
Meanwhile, Moscow believes that the agreements reached “are not being implemented due to the fault of the Georgian side.” This was stated yesterday by First Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Valery Loshchinin at a meeting with ambassadors of the European Union states. And Mr. Pasi himself was wary of getting involved in the hot Caucasus dispute, saying that “the main mechanism for resolving the conflict in South Ossetia is the Joint Control Commission.”
As Irina Gagloeva, chairman of the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee, told Vremya Novostey, US Ambassador to Georgia Richard Miles is expected in Tskhinvali next week. Washington's growing interest in the problem of the rebel region is confirmed by the fact that on Wednesday a group of aides of some US congressmen and senators arrived in South Ossetia for the first time. They were received by the Chairman of Parliament Znaur Gassiev and the Minister for Special Assignments Boris Chochiev.
Tbilisi stands for the early convening of an international conference on the problem of South Ossetia. However, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, “international forums are usually convened when either there is no mechanism, or there is one, but it does not work, as in Iraq.” Meanwhile, in this case, as the Russian minister emphasized, “there is a Mixed Control Commission and peacekeeping forces.” In response, Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Georgiy Khaindrava yesterday expressed his bewilderment at such a sharp reaction from the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi, Ivan SOLOVIEV |
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