Irakly Okruashvili now has only economic tools to make threats against Russia.
Photo: Valery Melnikov
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Georgia’s Main Hawk Fired
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has dismissed Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili. The official repeatedly said that Georgia is not afraid of a war with Russia and promised to celebrate New Year in the capital of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia. Georgia’s chief hawk was fired two days before the vote on South Ossetia’s independence and two weeks before a CIS summit in Minsk where Saakashvili hopes to meet Vladimir Putin. Tbilisi appears to be expecting a more lenient stance of the Kremlin.
Irakly Okruashvili is not leaving the government altogether. The minister was offered to head Georgia’s Economic Development Ministry.
Okruashvili has often criticized Russia for its position in settling conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, accusing Moscow of supporting separatists. The minister mentioned in the heat of the Russian-Georgian confrontation that Georgia is not afraid of war with Russian because the latter is “doomed to lose”.
The first signal for Okruashvili’s dismissal appeared last week when Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhaushvili visited Moscow. Bezhuashvili said in an interview with Kommersant that he does not approve of the defense minister’s blunt statements. One week after the visit, Okruashvili lost his post. He is to be succeeded by David Kezerashvili, head of the financial police.
Georgia’s president would like to hold a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart at a CIS summit later this month. Moscow has not given its response yet. Georgia has made another trade-off for Moscow as the parliament has put off discussions on the country’s leaving the CIS. The Georgian parliament’s speaker Nino Burdzhanadze explained that Georgia “should leave this organization only when it is favorable for Georgia.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 11, 2006
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