Head of Georgia’s Intelligence Department Gela Bezhuashvili reiterated Tbilisi’s position: Russia moved its troops to South Ossetia in the morning on August 7, and the Georgian Government could do nothing but start an advance on Tskhinvali.
Photo: Alexander Techinsky
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Georgia Admitted War
// Georgia’s Parliament in search of the reason for moving troops to South Ossetia
Opposition questions the reasons for the war
Sunday, parliamentary hearings started in Georgia, initiated by the commission on investigating the August war. MPs are going to ask the executive power “the most acute questions the public has”. But all questions boiled down to one thing: why Georgia moved its troops to South Ossetia.
President Saakashvili and representatives of the parliamentary opposition reached an agreement over investigation into the August war soon after hostilities were over. According to Mikhail Saakashvili, “the public has acute questions, which is why a parliamentary commission has been set up to answer all these questions”. The President insisted that an opposition activist should head the commission. A refugee from Abkhazia, one of the former leaders of Georgia’s united opposition, MP Paata Davitaia, was elected the commission’s Chairman. Mr Davitaia decided to accept the parliamentary mandate, despite the fact that the majority of the opposition declared the latest spring voting illegitimate rejecting mandates.
Nevertheless, the questions the parliamentary opposition has brought up do not differ from those radical opposition poses. Those include the reasons for moving Georgia’s troops to South Ossetia and a lack of coordination between governmental agencies at the beginning of the war, which led to casualties among population.
When setting up the commission, the parliamentary opposition demanded that it should be called “investigatory”, but the parliamentary majority dismissed the idea stating that in this case the public would think the government to be guilty, whereas guilt hasn’t been proven yet. In addition, according to the law, an investigatory commission has the right to submit the materials of its investigation to the Prosecutor General’s Office and raise the question of an official’s impeachment, whereas an ad hoc commission’s conclusions are in the form of recommendations. However, according to the parliamentary opposition, it is important that investigation of this kind should be carried out since it will allow the public to get answers to their questions. Also, MPs have other leverages to influence the executive branch in case they decide that its representative should be dismissed. “The commission’s name doesn’t have particular importance,” Georgy Targamadze from the Christian Democratic party told Kommersant. “A group of lawmakers can issue an impeachment after collecting the required number of signatures.”
The commission’s Saturday meeting was in the spotlight of the media. President Saakashvili stated that he was ready to stand before the commission and answer any questions. The opposition insisted that the meeting should be broadcast live. But then it turned out that not all answers will be made public. For example, head of the Intelligence Department Gela Bezhuashvili said that he will present the materials of his agency’s activity behind closed doors. Mr Bezhuashvili reiterated the government’s view that Russia moved its troops to South Ossetia in the morning on August 7, and the Georgian Government could do nothing but start an advance on Tskhinvali. The main argument the Georgian Government refers to is a telephone conversation between a South Ossetian border guard and his chief in Tskhinvali. This conversation’s transcript has been submitted by Georgia to all international organizations. “The conversation is between a South Ossetian border guard Gasiyev and his unknown chief in Tskhinvali,” Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told Kommersant. “At 3 a.m. on August 7 Gasiyev called his chief and said that a Russian column, headed by Colonel Khromchenko, was moving through the Roki Tunnel. The board guard asked what he should do. His chief seemed to be surprised at what he heard, but then he called back and said that the board guard should not interfere.”
Kommersant has these documents translated into English. No one doubts their authenticity in Georgia regardless of the fact that the cell numbers belong to Georgia’s mobile operator Magti GSM, whereas South Ossetian officials say that their mobile operator is Russia’s MegaFon.
Timing was the key matter discussed at the commission’s first meeting. Even representatives of the ruling party asked Mr Bezhuashvili this question. “Russia started its provocations long before the military phase of the conflict,” Mr Bezhuashvili responded. “Further diplomatic moves were thoroughly prepared. Demonstrative military maneuvers were carried out, including on the territory of South Ossetia. Russia arrived at the final decision to start intervention in the second half of 2007; the Kremlin regarded this measure as its only opportunity to prevent Georgia from integrating into NATO. According to our data, military units from the Russian town of Ivanovo were constantly deployed in the conflict zone; intelligence aircraft were extensively used, including a jet similar to the U.S. AWACS. On August 4-5 Russian paratroopers were deployed in Abkhazia – they prepared invasion of Georgia through Abkhazia.” MPs asked whether intelligence reported to the President about those facts; Mr Bezhuashvili replied that he submitted “detailed data” not only to the President but also to representatives of western countries. After it the meeting was closed to the press.
Representatives of Georgia’s radical opposition believe that the Government won’t be able to get away with it. According to opposition activists, on November 7 (the day when the Government dispersed an opposition rally), thousands of people, who have new reasons for discontent with the Government, will gather in the centre of Tbilisi.
“Te public’s main question is – how it happened that Georgia got involved in the war,” one of the opposition activists David Berdzenishvili says. “We have always stated that the problems with Abkhazia and South Ossetia should be addressed using peaceful methods only, but we have lost the republics during the war. Saakashvili says that he responded to the Russian attack on August 8. We reply: we know what Russia is and even admit that it moved its troops there, but why did Georgia get involved in the war? We saw the Georgian army move in the South Ossetian direction on August 7. Everyone knows that Tskhinvali was bombed after Saakashvili’s order.” The opposition doesn’t rule out that President Saakashvili’s decision to start the war for South Ossetia was prompted by the necessity to consolidate the nation ahead of the rally on November 7. “Most of the people considered the start of hostilities as Saakashvili’s courageous deed, which means that even if he’d managed to seize Tskhinvali, even with a high death toll, it would have been regarded as a great victory,” Mr Berdzenishvili opines. “After a defeat in the elections and without legitimacy, Mr Saakashvili needed to create such conditions where the majority of the population would think that regaining control over Tskhinvali is more important than electoral fraud.”
The radical opposition thinks the commission to be a farce. “The aim of the commission is concealing the truth about the August war, creating an alibi for Saakashvili and encourage society after the war’s shameful result,” Kakha Kukava from the Conservative Party stated. “To this end, Saakashvili uses quasi-opposition leaders, who betrayed people entering that parliament.”
The next meeting of the commission is planned for today, with representatives of the Defense and Interior Ministries reporting.
Olga Allenova; Georgy Dvali, Tbilisi
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 27, 2008
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