Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili
Photo: Reuters
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Forthcoming Elections in Georgia Hinder Relations with Russia
The cause of the recent aggravation of Russia’s-Georgia’s relations is that Georgia holds parliamentary elections May 21 and the situation is pre-election there, Alexander Karavaev, who is an expert at Center for Studies of Public and Political Process in Post-Soviet Area, told RIA Novosti.
Another aircraft scandal has clouded the relations of Moscow and Tbilisi this week. Tbilisi that lashes out at Moscow from time to time because of the violation of its airspace announced that Russia’s MiG-29 shot down Georgia’s spy drone above Abkhazia on Sunday.
Russia’s Air Force denied the accusation, while unrecognized Abkhazia assumed all responsibility for the plane’s crash. Presidents of Russia and Georgia discussed the incident late Monday and the U.N. Security Council focused on it at its private meeting on Wednesday.
“To the great extent, the scandal with the shot-down plane roots in the fact that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili attempts to win as many scores as possible for its party on the threshold of parliamentary elections. The idea of authorities is that public opinion of Georgia will consolidate in the face of the military threat from Russia,” the expert explained.
The second reason of Georgia’s attempts to aggravate the relations is the desire to present its position worldwide.
“Continuously addressing the world community and declaring violation of its territorial integrity, Saakashvili paves the way for justifying enforcement actions against the unrecognized republics,” the expert concluded.
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