“Dmitry Medvedev’s Decrees Have No Power in Abkhazia’s Army”
// Abkhazia’s troops seized the Upper Kodori
The main war theatre was moved to Abkhazia yesterday. As Russia announced a halt to the operation of the coercion of Georgia into peace, the Abkhaz forces took almost full control of the Upper Kodori. Foreign Office Chief of the breakaway republic Sergey Shamba told Kommersant that Abkhazia won’t give back the territory it seized.
Officially, the operation of ousting Georgia’s troops from the Upper Kodori started last Saturday. However, the Abkhaz military launched hostilities yesterday morning. According to Abkhaz Military Chief of Staff Anatoly Zaitsev, the operation began with the area’s investigation at 4 a.m. Making sure that the Georgian military ignored the ultimatum about their withdrawal from the Upper Kodori, the armed forces of the breakaway republic launched a missile attack against the Georgians. After machine-gunning 1.000 commandos landed in the Upper Kodori. The administrative center of the Upper Kodori, the settlement of Ajara was seized practically without using force. Entering the village, the Abkhaz military men first took off the Georgian symbols from the building of the administration hoisting the flag of the breakaway republic instead.
At midday Abkhaz President Sergey Bagapsh announced that Abkhazia’s troops controlled the major part of the gorge. “The Abkhaz military will approach the border on Georgia, but they won’t go further. We don’t need territories we have no right to,” Sergey Bagapsh stated. To develop the success and advance even more, another 1.000 soldiers were sent to the gorge at midday. After it the Abkhaz units continued ousting the Georgians from the gorge. In the evening spokesperson with the Georgian Interior Ministry Shota Utiashvili confessed to Kommersant, “Today we’ve lost the Kodori.”
A source of Kommersant in the pro-Georgian Abkhaz autonomous republic government said that the civilian population of the Georgian settlements had been partly evacuated before the Abkhaz offensive, and in the evening the rest of Georgia’s units withdrew from the Kodori heading toward Western Georgia. Shota Utiashvili confirmed this information to Kommersant. However, according to Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba, it’s too early to claim the end of the operation. “Georgians say they have left the Kodori. They also said there were no more Georgian soldiers in Tskhinvali. In reality there are military men still offering resistance there,” he told Kommersant. For all that, the Minister considers the retrieval of the Upper Kodori a mission that will be accomplished whatever.
According to the Abkhaz party, Russia’s troops didn’t help them free the Kodori from the Georgian units. “Only Abkhazia’s army was engaged in the operation, including the Air Force,” Sergey Shamba assured Kommersant. “Russia’s peace-keepers stayed where they are to reside according to their mandate – in the demilitarized zone.” The Georgian party has different data. “The aggression against Georgia was supported by Russia’s military, including the aviation,” Shota Utiashvili told Kommersant. “One of the jets asked for landing in Sukhumi airport, so, it means they bear losses. As to us, we haven’t had any.”
The Georgian government got especially irritated over the fact that the hostilities in the Kodori were launched after Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev announced a halt to the operation of the coercion of Georgia into peace. Sukhumi had something to respond with. “The words of the Russian President regarded Russia’s armed forces. Dmitry Medvedev’s decrees have no power in Abkhazia’s army,” Sergey Shamba told Kommersant.
The outcome of yesterday’s hostilities was the Abkhaz government’s retrieval of the region that has been under Georgia’s jurisdiction since the summer of 2006. Now Sukhumi is in control of the entire Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which used to be part of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Seizing the Kodori, the Abkhaz army fulfilled its major task in the framework of the military campaign: the government of the breakaway republic regarded the presence of Georgia’s units in the Kodori Gorge, which is a perfect bridgehead to launch an assault on Abkhazia, a key threat to the security of Abkhazia.
By the way, the question of the Georgian troops’ withdrawal from the Kodori was raised by the Abkhaz party as the main preliminary condition to start direct talks with Georgia. Now this goal is irrelevant to Abkhazia’s diplomats. Sergey Shamba told Kommersant that Abkhazia is ready to resume the negotiations with Georgia if some of Sukhumi’s demands are met, but the subject of the talks will be “the interstate relations of Georgia and Abkhazia”.
Alexander Gabuev; Vadim Tokhsyrov, Sukhumi; Georgy Dvali, Tbilisi
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 13, 2008
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