Georgia Keeps Aloof
// Now the whole world is against Russia
Georgia’s authorities addressed the international community yesterday, demanding that the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin recently given by him to the Russian Government, and aimed at “annexing Georgia’s territory” as Tbilisi takes it [see yesterday’s Kommersant], are denounced. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said the international organizations’ response is unprecedented. Tbilisi declares the opening of a new stage in the relations with Russia. Kommersant found out the essence of Tbilisi’s new strategy in its opposition with the Kremlin.
Georgia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spread a very toughly-worded statement yesterday. Tbilisi declared that the instructions recently given by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Russian Government (they concern building Moscow’s relations with the unrecognized republics as if they were Russia’s regions) aim to “legalize factual annexation of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia – integral parts of the internationally recognized territory of Georgia”.
“Russia seeks to justify its actions by ‘the need to take care of the interests of population in the conflict regions, including Russian citizens living there’. These efforts bear a close resemblance to the most notorious developments of the 1930s when a number of sovereign countries were occupied by the totalitarian regimes under the same pretext,” says the statement.
“The decision assigning the Russian Foreign Ministry to perform consular functions violates the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. While the decision on cooperation with these regions of Georgia in the field of civil, family and criminal cases, contradicts the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and the CIS 1993 Convention on Legal Assistance in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters,” believe the Georgian authorities.
Georgia’s Foreign Ministry believes that Russia’s steps towards strengthening the ties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia “are motivated by its desire to prevent Georgia’s integration with the North-Atlantic Alliance”.
Tbilisi appeals to the UN, European Union, OSCE, NATO, UN Secretary General’s Group of Friends to regard Russia’s actions as “infringement of Georgia’s national integrity”. Tbilisi expressed confidence that the international community will not stay an indifferent looker-on in the situation.
The international community’s response came immediately. U.S. State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington that the White House categorically stands for Georgia’s territorial integrity. However, the official underlined that the essence of Putin’s instructions is unclear to the U.S. administration yet: “We are still studying what exactly they [Russians.—Kommersant] suggest doing, but I would like to once again state our firm support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
Russia’s actions caused deep concern of Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, as well. “We are concerned over these unilateral decisions. We have always stood for Georgia’s territorial integrity. We believe the territorial conflict in Georgia can be solved by means of dialogue only,” said Solana’s spokesperson Cristina Gallach in Brussels yesterday. She said it was Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili who explained the essence of Putin’s instructions to Solana in a telephone conversation.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was another high-ranking official to express deep concern over Putin’s initiative. “Russia’s steps undermine Georgia’s sovereignty. I urge the Russian Federation to disavow these steps, and I call on the Georgian authorities to maintain self-control,” said Scheffer.
Although the European community did not go further than these statements, Georgia took it as a “significant breakthrough”. Saakashvili began his field governmental session in Zugdidi yesterday with telling how he had recently lost his voice after spending the entire day on the phone “pushing for the international condemnation of Moscow’s recent actions”. Saakashvili believes his efforts resulted in “an unprecedented statement by the NATO Secretary General, who for the first time said that Russia had made a provocative step and infringed Georgia’s sovereignty”, as well as the EU’s univocal support for Georgia. “I am surprised not only at Russia’s provocative steps, but also at the high degree of NATO and EU response, which is unprecedented,” said Saakashvili. “Russia is used to the fact that the international community swallows many things in its actions. However, the approach has begun changing since yesterday. So, we shall arm ourselves with patience and self-control,” said the president.
This statement considerably clarified the stand of Georgia’s current authorities. Many deputies, who demand Georgia’s exit from the CIS and the revocation of Russia’s peacekeeping mandate in the conflict zones, have been recently criticizing the government, accusing it of accommodation to Moscow. Experts believe Georgia now has full right to demand that the Russian peacekeeping mandate expire, even despite that the UN Security Council prolonged it till October 2008.
“Georgia can demand that Russia be declared the conflict’s party, which significantly alters the peacekeeping mission’s format,” said Shota Malashkhia, chairman of Georgia’s Territorial Integrity Parliamentary Committee. “Moreover, we can at last raise the issue of illegal functioning of the Gudaut base in Abkhazia and demand corresponding sanctions from the international organizations.” However, Saakashvili has repeatedly hinted that forcing the events is not the best solution for his country. According to sources in the Georgian administration, Tbilisi’s new strategy is to avoid making any decisive moves that irritate Russia and are criticized by the international community for “non-constructive and provocative politics”, but to make Moscow make mistakes and pay for them to the international community. We shall soon see how effectively this strategy works.
Olga Allenova; Georgy Dvali, Tbilisi
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 18, 2008
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