NationStates Jolt Archive

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7374546.stm

Georgia-Russia tensions ramped up

Russia has warned it will retaliate if Georgia uses force against its breakaway regions.

Moscow has accused Georgia of preparing to invade Abkhazia, and says it is boosting Russian forces there and in the South Ossetia region.

Georgia has reacted angrily to the Russian move, which its prime minister called "irresponsible".

The EU also urged caution, saying to increase troop numbers would be unwise given current tensions.

Russia's foreign minister said his country was not preparing for war but would "retaliate" to any attack.

Russia says Georgia is massing 1,500 soldiers and police in the upper Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia which remains under government control.

'Retaliatory measures'

A statement from the Russian foreign ministry said that "a bridgehead is being prepared for the start of military operations against Abkhazia".

In response, it said, it was increasing Russian peacekeepers in both Abkhazia and Georgia's other breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Georgia denies any build-up of its own forces in the area, and says that Russia is taking provocative action.

From now on, we consider every soldier or any unit of military equipment coming in [to Abkhazia] as illegal, potential aggressors and potential generators of destabilisation
Lado Gurgenidze
Prime Minister of Georgia

"We think that this step, if they take it, will cause extreme destabilisation in the region," said Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze.

"From now on, we consider every [Russian] soldier or any unit of military equipment coming in [to Abkhazia and South Ossetia] as illegal, potential aggressors and potential generators of destabilisation."

After meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called on Russia to show restraint.

"Even if the increase in peacekeepers is within limits, if we want to diminish the perception of tensions, I don't think it is a wise measure to increase now," Mr Solana said.

Mr Lavrov said that Russia had to protect Russian-passport holders in the regions and that if Georgia took military action, Russia would have to take "retaliatory measures".

Mr Solana's comments reflect a growing concern that Nato's promise to admit Georgia as a member one day, despite strong Russian opposition, could have unpredictable consequences, says the BBC's European affairs correspondent Oana Lungescu.

Peacekeeping force

Russia has kept a peacekeeping force in Abkhazia and South Ossetia under an agreement made following the wars of the 1990s, when the regions broke away from Tbilisi and formed links with Moscow.

There are around 2,000 Russians posted in Abkhazia, and about 1,000 in South Ossetia.

Tensions between Russia and Georgia have flared up recently, despite Russia lifting economic sanctions against Georgia earlier this month.

Last week Georgia accused a Russian plane of shooting down an unmanned Georgian spy plane - which Russian authorities insisted was shot down by Abkhaz rebels.

And on Tuesday Georgia said it was blocking Russia's entry to the World Trade Organization.

Many in Abkhazia believe that Kosovo's announcement of independence from Serbia in February provides a precedent for it to be recognised as an individual state.

Although it has its own flag and postage stamps, it is not internationally recognised.

Our correspondent in the area says that with this latest statement the Russian government has pushed the already bellicose rhetoric between the two countries to a new level.

To be perfectly honest I'm amazed no mention of this situation has been made here on NSG yet. You'd have thought this would be watched closely.

Personally, I'm more than a little upset by Russia's hubris. They need to realize that Georgia is an independent nation and they have no right to interfere in its internal politics. Their empire collapsed nearly two decades ago, and they ought to accept that.

Personally, I'm more than a little upset by Russia's hubris. They need to realize that Georgia is an independent nation and they have no right to interfere in its internal politics. Their empire collapsed nearly two decades ago, and they ought to accept that.
And yet, you'd have a hell of a time convincing a Russian why it was okay to attack Serbia for sending troops into what was effectively a break-away region - and now allowing that region to declare independence.

I know there's the whole ethnic cleansing thing, but you'd still have to explain why NATO sided with one group of borderline-genocidal butchers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_Liberation_Army#Crimes) over another.

I hope Russia will not actually follow through on its threats. Doing that would make it just as bad as the Federal Government and NATO.

This is Russia. What the hell did you expect to happen? That'd they let Georgia do as they please? That's just fantasy.

And yet, you'd have a hell of a time convincing a Russian why it was okay to attack Serbia for sending troops into what was effectively a break-away region - and now allowing that region to declare independence.

I know there's the whole ethnic cleansing thing, but you'd still have to explain why NATO sided with one group of borderline-genocidal butchers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_Liberation_Army#Crimes) over another.

It's definitely a tricky situation. I honestly couldn't tell you whether we did the right thing there or not.

Still, I know it's not right for Russia to continue to stir things up like this.

You have to be nice to Russia, or they turn the heat off.

And why does Russia have no right to interfere in the politics of other nations, NATO does all the time.

im gona go join the russian army. atleast when they fight they get things done.

im gona go join the russian army. atleast when they fight they get things done.
Ahem, it's not like things are done in Chechnya. Or Afghanistan, back in the days.

All you'll get in the Russian army is beatings. And you might get sold off as boy-toy to wealthy old men.

Ahem, it's not like things are done in Chechnya. Or Afghanistan, back in the days.

All you'll get in the Russian army is beatings. And you might get sold off as boy-toy to wealthy old men. sounds kinda hot. too bad im not gay.

Ahem, it's not like things are done in Chechnya. Or Afghanistan, back in the days.

All you'll get in the Russian army is beatings. And you might get sold off as boy-toy to wealthy old men.
Yeah, the Russian army definitely has followed the: "If at first you don't succeed, send four more divisions" policy of warfare. The reason why they were feared in the Cold War wasn't because they had such great armed forces (they had very nice armed forces btw) it was because there were so freaking many of them, and their generals were willing to spend their lives in order to get their objectives. Being in that sort of army doesn't do much for your personal life expectancy.

And this is even more evidence that Russia is back to their strongman ways. Damn it Putin, you guys had a chance to become irrelevant! Why couldn't you just submit?

Hmmm...I think that we have no way to act: we have accepted the creation of Kosovo ( wich is in my mind only a US operation organized to put one more burden on EU shoulders ).

So how could we speak for Georgia ?
Georgia is even not a democratic country !
They have done ethnic cleansing also...I'm absolutly not a supporter of getting Georgia into NATO, we are supposed to have other standards than just being stronger.

So, on the paper, there's nothing "wrong" in Russian actions.

Of course they are ugly hypocrit fuckers, but who would risk a shutdown of Russian gas and oil for Georgia ? Or a military intervention ?

people wonder why Georgia wants to join NATO?

Perhaps it is so they can tell Russia to leave them alone.

Interesting irony:
Kosovo can secede from Serbia simply because a majority of the current residents want to and because Serbia had no de facto control over the province.

Yet....
Abkhazia, (over which Georgia has no de facto control) which has chosen by a majority to leave Georgia is not allowed to do so.


Double standard?

Interesting irony:
Kosovo can secede from Serbia simply because a majority of the current residents want to and because Serbia had no de facto control over the province.

Yet....
Abkhazia, (over which Georgia has no de facto control) which has chosen by a majority to leave Georgia is not allowed to do so.


Double standard?

Your also leaving out that Kosovo was a economically feasible. Is Abkhazia ?? who knows.
though getting technical it was the Abkahazia's who commit the ethnic cleansing of Georgians, despite Georgia's offer of Autonomy. Seems more like the Abkhazia is also just a Russian ploy to regain area as the Abkhazia independence movement is largely a Russia backed organization.

To be perfectly honest I'm amazed no mention of this situation has been made here on NSG yet.
There have, in fact, been a few threads started on this. You can be forgiven for not noticing because they sink like stones. Nobody really cares very much, because most people have no particular idea about or interest in the distinctions among Georgians, Abkhazians, and Ossetians. (For anybody who cares, they are quite distinct ethnicities of wildly different language groups, Georgians or "South Caucasics" being the archetypal "Caucasians" for whom the "Caucasoid" race is named, descended from the ancient kingdom of Colchis where Jason went to get the Golden Fleece; Abkhazians or "Northwest Caucasics" speaking the Circassian language, infamous for a multiplicity of subtle consonant distinctions and no vowel distinctions; Ossetes speak an off-brand of Iranian and are thought to be remnants of the old Scythians.)

It is not at all apparent to me that Georgia has any particular right to claim the full borders of whatever the old S.S.R. happened to encompass, particularly when it comes to parts which were semi-distinguished as A.S.S.R. ("Autonomous" Soviet Socialist Republics) under the old regime. I do not care where Abkhazia or Ossetia succeed in their independence bids or not, and I don't expect the US or NATO to get interested enough to do anything anyway. Dubya seems to think it is an issue, in his muddled-headed sort of way, but he is a lame duck and nobody is going to be persuaded.