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Georgia Recalls Its Ambassador
Georgian authorities have decided to recall the Georgian ambassador from Russia in response to events in the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflict zones. The decision was made after a note of protest was handed to a representative of Russia in connection with the flight of Russian Air Force planes over South Ossetia. The Russian Foreign Ministry acknowledged that those flights took place. According to the ministry, the flights were made to prevent “the development of the situation by a violent scenario.” Tbilisi considers the act a violation of its airspace.
Tensions flared in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone several days ago after Tskhinvali was subjected to grenade fire. South Ossetian authorities accused Georgia in the matter, and Georgia claimed that Georgian territory was hit from South Ossetia. Relations between Tbilisi and Abkhazia also took a turn for the worse after a series of bomb blasts in the unrecognized republic, which its authorities blamed on the Georgian special services.
Gleb Pavlovsky of the Foundation for Effective Politics may mean that Georgia is preparing for a military conflict. “The recall of an ambassador in a situation like this is a hint at possible prewar relations between Georgia and Russia,” he told Interfax information agency. Furthermore, there are “aspects that go beyond the sphere of Russian-Georgian relations,” he added. “The fact that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared in Tbilisi after a series of explosions in Abkhazia that were perfectly obviously organized by Tbilisi, after the explosion and provocation in South Ossetia, and to say that everything is in order is a way to heat up the radicalism of the Georgian president to an extreme degree.” “This is an attempt to try the nerves of the new Russian president. It is one of the tests that the Americans love so much,” he explained.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Tkeshelashvili stated on Thursday that the recall of Georgian Ambassador to Russia Erosi Kitsmarishvili is connected with “Russia’s act of open aggression.”
www.kommersant.com
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