www.reuters.com
By David Brunnstrom
…
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – International donors pledged a higher-than-expected $4.55 billion on Wednesday to help Georgia recover from its war with Russia, and Washington called it an extraordinary sign of solidarity at a time of financial turmoil.
The European Commission said the sum pledged at a one-day conference in Brussels included $3.7 billion in public loans and grants and $850 million from the private sector.
"Four and a half billion dollars far exceeds the expectations we had ... At a time like this to show such support is something that no Georgian will ever forget," Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze told a news briefing.
Henrietta Fore, head of U.S. government aid agency USAID told Reuters: "The message economically and politically is very strong for Georgia ... At a time of financial turmoil, this is extraordinarily strong."
The United Nations and the World Bank had estimated that Georgia, an energy transit route, would need $3.25 billion over the next three years to help tens of thousands of people forced from their homes and repair and develop infrastructure.
Russia sent in troops in August after Georgia tried to retake the breakaway pro-Russian South Ossetia region. Moscow has since withdrawn soldiers from Georgia proper, but the West accused Moscow of a disproportionate use of force.
In Georgia, EU ceasefire monitors challenged South Ossetia to grant them access after the separatists complained of Georgian attacks. The monitors are denied access to the region, where Russia says thousands of its troops will provide security.
Also on Wednesday, South Ossetia approved a former Russian official as its prime minister, prompting Georgian charges that Moscow had annexed the region.
Russia's bombing raids in August hit mainly military targets in Georgia, but Tbilisi also reported damage to civilian infrastructure and risks to its economic growth and investment.
PLEDGES
The U.S. has offered at least $1 billion for rebuilding.
The European Commission, the European Union's executive, promised up to 500 million euros ($642.8 million) to 2010. It said pledges from the EU's 27 member states and the European Investment Bank brought the EU total to some 863 million euros.
Japan's Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Yasutoshi Nishimura said Japan would provide $200 million.
Tbilisi said last month international institutions had pledged a loan package of about $1 billion to help soften the impact of the conflict on the banking sector.
Georgia had to scale down foreign investment forecasts and last month the IMF approved a $750 million program aimed at rebuilding currency reserves and restoring investor confidence.
Representatives of the Georgian opposition sent an open letter to the Brussels meeting stressing the need to ensure the funds were not used to prop up the leadership, and demanded greater media freedom and judicial and electoral reform.
In Tbilisi, hardline opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze vowed to stage new protests from November 7, exactly a year after the government sent riot police to disperse protests against what demonstrators called President Mikheil Saakashvili's "autocratic" rule.
At the news briefing following the Brussels meeting, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said Georgia must pursue reforms and ensure freedoms.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that although there was a moral imperative to help a neighbor in need, it was also in the European Union's interest.
"Any conflict on Europe's borders clearly has implications for European security and stability," he said. "This particular conflict also has potential costs for Europe in terms of our energy security and our diversification strategy."
Barroso noted that all of Georgia's main energy transit routes had been disrupted during the conflict.
(Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Russians remain in Akhalgori
www.geotimes.ge
The Russian occupants have no intention to leave the Akhalgori Region. Georgian government will accuse Russia of breaching the Sarkozy-Medvedev ceasefire agreement unless Russian troops are withdrawn from Akhalgori.
Meanwhile, the occupants are registering local population in Akhalgori and trying to change everything Georgian with everything Russian - For example - to remove Georgian language from local schools and substitute it with Russian. Locals are objecting to this and ask for assistance.
Occupants are still firm on their positions in Sachkhere region. Their checkpoint in the village Perevi is still operating.
The Russian occupants have no intention to leave the Akhalgori Region. Georgian government will accuse Russia of breaching the Sarkozy-Medvedev ceasefire agreement unless Russian troops are withdrawn from Akhalgori.
Meanwhile, the occupants are registering local population in Akhalgori and trying to change everything Georgian with everything Russian - For example - to remove Georgian language from local schools and substitute it with Russian. Locals are objecting to this and ask for assistance.
Occupants are still firm on their positions in Sachkhere region. Their checkpoint in the village Perevi is still operating.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
News Media Feel Limits to Georgia’s Democracy
www.nyt.com
By DAN BILEFSKY and MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
Published: October 6, 2008
TBILISI, Georgia — The cameras at Georgia’s main opposition broadcaster, Imedi, kept rolling Nov. 7, when masked riot police officers with machine guns burst into the studio. They smashed equipment, ordered employees and television guests to lie on the floor and confiscated their cellphones. A news anchor remained on-screen throughout, describing the mayhem. Then all went black.
The pretext for the raid — which silenced the channel — was a government claim that Imedi was fomenting unrest when it broadcast a statement by one of its founders, Badri Patarkatsishvili, promising to topple the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Earlier that day, riot police officers lashed out with clubs and fired rubber bullets at unarmed antigovernment protesters. A nine-day state of emergency followed.
Now, 11 months later, Georgia’s democratic credentials are again being questioned, and tested, as the country finds itself on the front line of a confrontation between Russia and the West.
Georgia and its American backers, including the Republican and Democratic United States presidential contenders, have presented Georgia as a plucky little democracy in an unstable region, a country deserving of generous aid and NATO membership. But a growing number of critics inside and outside the country argue that it falls well short of Western democratic standards and cite a lack of press freedom as a glaring example.
Mr. Saakashvili, a telegenic New York-trained lawyer, came to power in 2004 after a wave of protests known as the Rose Revolution, promising to shed the authoritarianism of the past. But Lincoln A. Mitchell, a Georgia expert at Columbia University, contended that Mr. Saakashvili now presided over a “semiauthoritarian” state, while saying that it was the most democratic of the former Soviet states in the region.
“The reality is that the Saakashvili government is the fourth one-party state that Georgia has had during the last 20 years, going back to the Soviet period,” he said. “And nowhere has this been more apparent than in the restrictions on media freedom.”
In its most recent report, Freedom House, a human rights research group based in New York, ranked Georgia, in terms of press freedom, on a level with Colombia and behind Nigeria, Malawi, Indonesia and Ukraine — the last a NATO aspirant, like Georgia.
A 2008 State Department report on Georgia’s democratic progress said that respect for freedom of speech, the press and assembly worsened during the 2007 crisis and that there continued to be reports of “law enforcement officers acting with impunity” and “government pressure on the judiciary.”
Sozar Subari, Georgia’s ombudsman for human rights, an independent watchdog appointed by Parliament, accused the government of stifling press freedom by ensuring that sympathetic managers were installed as directors at national broadcasters.
“That Georgia is on the road to democracy and has a free press is the main myth created by Georgia that the West has believed in,” Mr. Subari said. “We have some of the best freedom-of-expression laws in the world, but in practice, the government is so afraid of criticism that it has felt compelled to raid media offices and to intimidate journalists and bash their equipment.”
Nino Zuriashvili, a Georgian investigative journalist who said she broadcast on the Internet to bypass censorship, said that under Mr. Saakashvili, nearly a dozen broadcasting outlets had been winnowed to a handful, and several political talk shows had been shut down. “The paradox is that there was more media freedom before the Rose Revolution,” she said.
Mr. Saakashvili himself, asked about press freedom on a recent visit to New York, conceded at an Atlantic Council luncheon that “we need to have more debate and more transparency.” But he insisted, “There are no taboos.”
Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze, a close ally of Mr. Saakashvili, retorted that market forces were driving the consolidation of media. Annual spending on television and newspaper advertising in Georgia is about $50 million, he said, not enough to support a dozen broadcasters. The raid on Imedi was not Georgia’s “finest hour,” he said in an interview, but he insisted that opposition voices were represented across Georgian media.
“All this talk of media censorship is a tired cliché,” he said, noting that opposition candidates in recent presidential and parliamentary elections had at least equal time on the main television stations.
Some critics said the culture of censorship was particularly pronounced during the brief war with Russia in August. They accused the government of obfuscating reality to portray Georgia as both victim and victor.
Nino Jangirashvili is the director of the Tbilisi broadcaster Kavkasia, which is independently owned and run. She said that on Aug. 10, when Mr. Saakashvili called for a cease-fire, government officials were briefing broadcasters that Georgian troops controlled Tskhinvali, the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, even as Georgian soldiers there were frantically calling Kavkasia to say they had been overrun by the Russians and were hiding in trees.
She said the station refrained from reporting the extent of what it knew, for fear of being shut down or labeled as Russian agents. “We engaged in self-censorship because of the political environment of fear and intimidation,” she said.
Giga Bokeria, the deputy foreign minister, who is a member of the governing party, National Movement, and is a close ally of Mr. Saakashvili, said that during the war, the government asked broadcasters in some cases not to make reports that could incite panic or be used by Russia as propaganda. But he was emphatic that it had provided journalists with accurate information; the Georgian retreat from Tskhinvali on Aug. 10 was acknowledged publicly, he said. Indeed, by noon that day, the Georgian news media reported Russian control.
The government’s control of the news media, critics say, is best seen at Rustavi 2, the most popular television channel. Once he came to power, Mr. Saakashvili moved to cement his hold over it, said Kibar Khalvashi, Rustavi 2’s former owner, who has become a critic of the government.
Mr. Khalvashi said in an interview that in 2004, a close friend who was then Georgia’s minister of defense, Irakli Okruashvili, asked him to buy a majority stake in Rustavi 2, and he agreed. Two years later, when Mr. Okruashvili joined the opposition, Mr. Khalvashi said Mr. Saakashvili personally pressed him to sell his 78 percent stake in the channel to a person proposed by the government whose identity was not disclosed to him. “He told me to release these shares if I wanted to have a good life in Georgia,” he said.
Once he parted with his shares, Mr. Khalvashi said, the government began a campaign of intimidation and interference in his construction and consumer goods businesses; he said he was fined about $37 million by financial regulators and pushed into bankruptcy. He has since moved to Germany, where he is seeking political asylum.
Mr. Bokeria, the deputy foreign minister, denied Mr. Khalvashi’s allegations, calling them politically motivated; his businesses had been fined, Mr. Bokeria said, because he had broken the law.
According to Rustavi 2’s licensing documents, dated December 2007 and on file at Georgia’s national broadcast regulator, the channel’s current majority owner is Geomedia Group, registered in the Marshall Islands, whose controlling director is not publicly known. Its minority shareholder is the Georgian Industrial Group, controlled by two brothers, David Bezhuashvili, a member of the governing party, and Gela Bezhuashvili, director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Georgia.
Irakli Chikovani, Rustavi 2’s general director for 10 months, said that as far as he knew, there had been no instances of officials trying to put pressure on the station’s journalists.
“I think it inconceivable for someone to call a journalist, say not to do something, and for the journalist to stay quiet,” he said.
Eka Khoperia, a former news director at Rustavi 2, said that at times her phone had rung constantly with government officials seeking to influence reporting. The pressure was so strong, she said, that she finally resigned on the air in July 2006 to protest government attempts to influence her handling of a story on the murder of a bank official in which employees of the Interior Ministry were implicated.
In August of that year, other Rustavi 2 staff members staged a strike to protest the dismissal of the station’s general director and his replacement with a government ally.
Ms. Khoperia said Georgian journalists deserved some blame for not holding the government to account. She said that in Georgia’s young developing democracy, journalists and those who went on to become politicians worked together in the prelude to the Rose Revolution, and the lines between them became blurred afterward. “They were our friends and we were together in one group,” she said. “It took us journalists too long to adapt to the new reality. Often we behaved like politicians. We should have taken a step back.”
As for Imedi, it reopened in early September, and is now owned by Josef Kei, a pro-government businessman and a cousin of Mr. Patarkatsishvili, the Imedi founder. (Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which held power of attorney over Imedi, no longer has a stake in the company.) Mr. Patarkatsishvili became a candidate for the Georgian presidency after the raid on Imedi and was accused of taking part in a coup against the government. He lost the election and died of a heart attack at his home near London this year.
Nona Kandiashvili, a spokeswoman for the Patarkatsishvili family, said the family was contesting Mr. Kei’s ownership. Imedi, meanwhile, has been nicknamed Rustavi 3 by Georgian journalists because of its new pro-government line.
Olesya Vartanyan contributed reporting.
By DAN BILEFSKY and MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
Published: October 6, 2008
TBILISI, Georgia — The cameras at Georgia’s main opposition broadcaster, Imedi, kept rolling Nov. 7, when masked riot police officers with machine guns burst into the studio. They smashed equipment, ordered employees and television guests to lie on the floor and confiscated their cellphones. A news anchor remained on-screen throughout, describing the mayhem. Then all went black.
The pretext for the raid — which silenced the channel — was a government claim that Imedi was fomenting unrest when it broadcast a statement by one of its founders, Badri Patarkatsishvili, promising to topple the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Earlier that day, riot police officers lashed out with clubs and fired rubber bullets at unarmed antigovernment protesters. A nine-day state of emergency followed.
Now, 11 months later, Georgia’s democratic credentials are again being questioned, and tested, as the country finds itself on the front line of a confrontation between Russia and the West.
Georgia and its American backers, including the Republican and Democratic United States presidential contenders, have presented Georgia as a plucky little democracy in an unstable region, a country deserving of generous aid and NATO membership. But a growing number of critics inside and outside the country argue that it falls well short of Western democratic standards and cite a lack of press freedom as a glaring example.
Mr. Saakashvili, a telegenic New York-trained lawyer, came to power in 2004 after a wave of protests known as the Rose Revolution, promising to shed the authoritarianism of the past. But Lincoln A. Mitchell, a Georgia expert at Columbia University, contended that Mr. Saakashvili now presided over a “semiauthoritarian” state, while saying that it was the most democratic of the former Soviet states in the region.
“The reality is that the Saakashvili government is the fourth one-party state that Georgia has had during the last 20 years, going back to the Soviet period,” he said. “And nowhere has this been more apparent than in the restrictions on media freedom.”
In its most recent report, Freedom House, a human rights research group based in New York, ranked Georgia, in terms of press freedom, on a level with Colombia and behind Nigeria, Malawi, Indonesia and Ukraine — the last a NATO aspirant, like Georgia.
A 2008 State Department report on Georgia’s democratic progress said that respect for freedom of speech, the press and assembly worsened during the 2007 crisis and that there continued to be reports of “law enforcement officers acting with impunity” and “government pressure on the judiciary.”
Sozar Subari, Georgia’s ombudsman for human rights, an independent watchdog appointed by Parliament, accused the government of stifling press freedom by ensuring that sympathetic managers were installed as directors at national broadcasters.
“That Georgia is on the road to democracy and has a free press is the main myth created by Georgia that the West has believed in,” Mr. Subari said. “We have some of the best freedom-of-expression laws in the world, but in practice, the government is so afraid of criticism that it has felt compelled to raid media offices and to intimidate journalists and bash their equipment.”
Nino Zuriashvili, a Georgian investigative journalist who said she broadcast on the Internet to bypass censorship, said that under Mr. Saakashvili, nearly a dozen broadcasting outlets had been winnowed to a handful, and several political talk shows had been shut down. “The paradox is that there was more media freedom before the Rose Revolution,” she said.
Mr. Saakashvili himself, asked about press freedom on a recent visit to New York, conceded at an Atlantic Council luncheon that “we need to have more debate and more transparency.” But he insisted, “There are no taboos.”
Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze, a close ally of Mr. Saakashvili, retorted that market forces were driving the consolidation of media. Annual spending on television and newspaper advertising in Georgia is about $50 million, he said, not enough to support a dozen broadcasters. The raid on Imedi was not Georgia’s “finest hour,” he said in an interview, but he insisted that opposition voices were represented across Georgian media.
“All this talk of media censorship is a tired cliché,” he said, noting that opposition candidates in recent presidential and parliamentary elections had at least equal time on the main television stations.
Some critics said the culture of censorship was particularly pronounced during the brief war with Russia in August. They accused the government of obfuscating reality to portray Georgia as both victim and victor.
Nino Jangirashvili is the director of the Tbilisi broadcaster Kavkasia, which is independently owned and run. She said that on Aug. 10, when Mr. Saakashvili called for a cease-fire, government officials were briefing broadcasters that Georgian troops controlled Tskhinvali, the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, even as Georgian soldiers there were frantically calling Kavkasia to say they had been overrun by the Russians and were hiding in trees.
She said the station refrained from reporting the extent of what it knew, for fear of being shut down or labeled as Russian agents. “We engaged in self-censorship because of the political environment of fear and intimidation,” she said.
Giga Bokeria, the deputy foreign minister, who is a member of the governing party, National Movement, and is a close ally of Mr. Saakashvili, said that during the war, the government asked broadcasters in some cases not to make reports that could incite panic or be used by Russia as propaganda. But he was emphatic that it had provided journalists with accurate information; the Georgian retreat from Tskhinvali on Aug. 10 was acknowledged publicly, he said. Indeed, by noon that day, the Georgian news media reported Russian control.
The government’s control of the news media, critics say, is best seen at Rustavi 2, the most popular television channel. Once he came to power, Mr. Saakashvili moved to cement his hold over it, said Kibar Khalvashi, Rustavi 2’s former owner, who has become a critic of the government.
Mr. Khalvashi said in an interview that in 2004, a close friend who was then Georgia’s minister of defense, Irakli Okruashvili, asked him to buy a majority stake in Rustavi 2, and he agreed. Two years later, when Mr. Okruashvili joined the opposition, Mr. Khalvashi said Mr. Saakashvili personally pressed him to sell his 78 percent stake in the channel to a person proposed by the government whose identity was not disclosed to him. “He told me to release these shares if I wanted to have a good life in Georgia,” he said.
Once he parted with his shares, Mr. Khalvashi said, the government began a campaign of intimidation and interference in his construction and consumer goods businesses; he said he was fined about $37 million by financial regulators and pushed into bankruptcy. He has since moved to Germany, where he is seeking political asylum.
Mr. Bokeria, the deputy foreign minister, denied Mr. Khalvashi’s allegations, calling them politically motivated; his businesses had been fined, Mr. Bokeria said, because he had broken the law.
According to Rustavi 2’s licensing documents, dated December 2007 and on file at Georgia’s national broadcast regulator, the channel’s current majority owner is Geomedia Group, registered in the Marshall Islands, whose controlling director is not publicly known. Its minority shareholder is the Georgian Industrial Group, controlled by two brothers, David Bezhuashvili, a member of the governing party, and Gela Bezhuashvili, director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Georgia.
Irakli Chikovani, Rustavi 2’s general director for 10 months, said that as far as he knew, there had been no instances of officials trying to put pressure on the station’s journalists.
“I think it inconceivable for someone to call a journalist, say not to do something, and for the journalist to stay quiet,” he said.
Eka Khoperia, a former news director at Rustavi 2, said that at times her phone had rung constantly with government officials seeking to influence reporting. The pressure was so strong, she said, that she finally resigned on the air in July 2006 to protest government attempts to influence her handling of a story on the murder of a bank official in which employees of the Interior Ministry were implicated.
In August of that year, other Rustavi 2 staff members staged a strike to protest the dismissal of the station’s general director and his replacement with a government ally.
Ms. Khoperia said Georgian journalists deserved some blame for not holding the government to account. She said that in Georgia’s young developing democracy, journalists and those who went on to become politicians worked together in the prelude to the Rose Revolution, and the lines between them became blurred afterward. “They were our friends and we were together in one group,” she said. “It took us journalists too long to adapt to the new reality. Often we behaved like politicians. We should have taken a step back.”
As for Imedi, it reopened in early September, and is now owned by Josef Kei, a pro-government businessman and a cousin of Mr. Patarkatsishvili, the Imedi founder. (Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which held power of attorney over Imedi, no longer has a stake in the company.) Mr. Patarkatsishvili became a candidate for the Georgian presidency after the raid on Imedi and was accused of taking part in a coup against the government. He lost the election and died of a heart attack at his home near London this year.
Nona Kandiashvili, a spokeswoman for the Patarkatsishvili family, said the family was contesting Mr. Kei’s ownership. Imedi, meanwhile, has been nicknamed Rustavi 3 by Georgian journalists because of its new pro-government line.
Olesya Vartanyan contributed reporting.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Russia steps up preparations for Georgia pullout
www.ap.org
By MATT SIEGEL
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Russian forces stepped up preparations Monday to withdraw from bases and checkpoints surrounding two separatist regions in Georgia, four days ahead of a deadline closely watched by the West.
Moscow must pull back thousands of troops from buffer zones outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Friday under a deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Russia left troops in the areas after routing Georgia in an August war.
Heavy activity was observed at installations across Georgia — from around the central city of Gori, near South Ossetia, to Zugdidiin in the west, near Abkhazia on the Black Sea.
At a checkpoint in Kvenatkotsa, northwest of Gori, an Associated Press reporter saw Russian soldiers destroying nonessential equipment before lowering the Russian flag at an adjacent hillside base. Soldiers milled around near seven military transport vehicles brought in to haul out personnel and equipment.
Georgia's Interior Ministry confirmed that Russian forces were making preparations to pull out of at least eight posts across the country.
Maj. Gen. Marat Kulakhmetov, commander of the Russian peacekeepers in the Georgia-Ossetia conflict zone, told Russian news organizations that the six military posts to the south of South Ossetia would be removed within a day of the start of the withdrawal there.
"No problems are hindering the withdrawal of the observation posts from the southern limits of the security zone. The removal of material and of defense installations are proceeding simultaneously at all six observation posts," Kulakhmetov said, Interfax reported.
Kulakhmetov asked the European Union to ensure the presence of two EU military observers at each post at the time of withdrawal, Russian news agencies reported.
A spokesman for the EU monitoring mission declined comment, citing confidentiality rules related to the talks.
The cease-fire also calls for both sides to return troops to the positions they held before the fighting broke out — but Russia's announced plan to keep some 8,000 troops in the regions well exceeds the number reportedly there before the fighting began.
Russia recognized the independence of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia after the fighting.
By MATT SIEGEL
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Russian forces stepped up preparations Monday to withdraw from bases and checkpoints surrounding two separatist regions in Georgia, four days ahead of a deadline closely watched by the West.
Moscow must pull back thousands of troops from buffer zones outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Friday under a deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Russia left troops in the areas after routing Georgia in an August war.
Heavy activity was observed at installations across Georgia — from around the central city of Gori, near South Ossetia, to Zugdidiin in the west, near Abkhazia on the Black Sea.
At a checkpoint in Kvenatkotsa, northwest of Gori, an Associated Press reporter saw Russian soldiers destroying nonessential equipment before lowering the Russian flag at an adjacent hillside base. Soldiers milled around near seven military transport vehicles brought in to haul out personnel and equipment.
Georgia's Interior Ministry confirmed that Russian forces were making preparations to pull out of at least eight posts across the country.
Maj. Gen. Marat Kulakhmetov, commander of the Russian peacekeepers in the Georgia-Ossetia conflict zone, told Russian news organizations that the six military posts to the south of South Ossetia would be removed within a day of the start of the withdrawal there.
"No problems are hindering the withdrawal of the observation posts from the southern limits of the security zone. The removal of material and of defense installations are proceeding simultaneously at all six observation posts," Kulakhmetov said, Interfax reported.
Kulakhmetov asked the European Union to ensure the presence of two EU military observers at each post at the time of withdrawal, Russian news agencies reported.
A spokesman for the EU monitoring mission declined comment, citing confidentiality rules related to the talks.
The cease-fire also calls for both sides to return troops to the positions they held before the fighting broke out — but Russia's announced plan to keep some 8,000 troops in the regions well exceeds the number reportedly there before the fighting began.
Russia recognized the independence of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia after the fighting.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Business booming in Georgia for Stalin look-alike
www.nyt.com
www.sfgate.com
Dan Bilefsky, New York Times
(10-05) Gori, Georgia -- With his signature mustache,
medal-encrusted Soviet marshal's uniform and determination to be addressed
as "Comrade," the Stalin impersonator Jamil Ziyadaliev should perhaps be
out of work in Georgia, a country still reeling from a war with Russia.
But Ziyadaliev, 64, an avuncular father of two who dresses as Stalin even
on days off, insists that business has seldom been better. He is a
frequent hired guest at weddings, where he dances to Soviet Katyusha music
from World War II.
The benefits of looking eerily like the former dictator, he boasts,
include free meals, free car repairs - and free passage through Russian
checkpoints. Looks come with perks
"Looking like Stalin is like having a visa in Georgia," said Ziyadaliev, a
Muslim originally from Azerbaijan, who drove a taxi, peddled vegetables
and worked as an accountant before deciding on a career as a modern
incarnation of the brutal, diabolically brilliant Soviet tyrant.
"All Georgians respect Stalin, because he was a great leader who created a
great empire - and, of course, he was the most famous Georgian who ever
lived," Ziyadaliev said.
Not everyone agrees. Nika Jabanashvili, a Georgian construction worker
whose grandparents were deported by Stalin from Tbilisi to Central Asia as
part of his repression of ethnic minorities, views Stalin as little more
than a murderer.
"Stalin was a Satan," he said. "He killed more people than Pharaoh. I
don't care if he was Georgian. He was a bad man."
Whatever the range of opini
ons, an enduring cult of Stalin persists in
this small but proud nation of 4.6 million, where the
Georgian-cobbler's-son-turned-20th-century-titan remains a towering if
contentious figure. A recent survey on Tbilisi Forum, a popular political
Web site, asked whether people were proud that Stalin was Georgian; a
vocal minority of 37 percent of the several hundred respondents said yes,
while 52 percent said no and 11 percent said they did not care.
Vakhtang Guruli, a historian of Georgia who works in the KGB archives in
Tbilisi, said that most Georgians regarded Stalin as "higher than man,
more than human and less than God."
He said contemporary Georgian history books still lauded Stalin for
vanquishing Hitler's fascism and transforming the Soviet Union into an
industrial superpower, even as they criticized him for engineering the Red
Army invasion that ended Georgia's short-lived independence in 1921.
Stalin's lust for power, Guruli added, was a decidedly Georgian
characteristic, the outgrowth of having an outsize ego in a tiny, macho
country long consumed by banditry.
"Russians tend to forget that Stalin had a Georgian last name,
Dzhugashvili, which was overshadowed when he adopted the nom de guerre of
Stalin, meaning man of steel, when he was in his 30s," Guruli said. "But
every Georgian knows Stalin came from here. He may have given his
execution orders in Russian, but he did so with a heavy Georgian accent" -
a lineage, Guruli said, that Nikita Khrushchev seized upon after he
denounced Stalin's rule in 1956, mocking him and his henchmen as uncouth
Georgian peasants.
Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of "Young Stalin," which chronicles
Stalin's violent upbringing as an aspiring priest who became a Marxist
revolutionary in Tbilisi, said that even when Stalin became the supreme
Soviet leader, he retained a deep attachment to Georgia.
He wrote frequently to his mother here, vacationed in Abkhazian sea
resorts and retained an abiding love of Georgian wine, food, poetry and
folk music.
"There are
two Stalins: the Russian Stalin and the Georgian Stalin," Sebag
Montefiore said. "In the Georgian version, Stalin is still the street
Marxist, the Georgian boy from Gori. In the Russian version, Stalin is the
most important leader of the 20th century and his Georgian identity has
been laundered and Russified." Stalin sculpture in backyard
Liana Imanidze, 71, whose grand home in Tbilisi has a sculpture of Stalin
in the backyard and is decorated inside with a replica of his death mask
perched on a pedestal, lamented that younger Georgians were ignorant about
Stalin, including her own grandchildren, who she complained were more
interested in Paris Hilton than in World War II.
She regretted that her Stalin-worshiping husband was "more in love with
Stalin than with me," but she nevertheless lauded Stalin as a flawed
genius.
Sociologists here said the residual appeal resulted from the lack of
historical reckoning about Stalin's darker deeds after Georgia gained
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
In Gori, Stalin's birthplace, a dusty provincial town where a marble
Stalin statue dominates the central square, toasts to "our great comrade"
remain commonplace at births and weddings. Embarrassed Georgians in the
Ministry of Interior said privately that they were disappointed a Russian
bomb had not landed on the statue during the August war.
On a recent day at the Stalin Museum here, young Georgian staff members
wearing Soviet military uniforms sold Stalin T-shirts, Stalin poetry books
and Stalin-embossed bottles of red wine, even as cleaners removed mortar
left over from the recent Russian shelling.
Olga Topchishvili, the museum's senior tour guide, said she had been
extolling Stalin's accomplishments for nearly 30 years, until three months
ago, when the museum added a new "gulag section." The section consists of
a laminated, letter-size piece of paper quoting three sentences from a
1997 issue of Pravda, the Russian newspaper: "About 3.8 million people
were prosecuted between 1921 and 1954," the p
aper says. "About 643,000
people were sentenced to death. And this happened in a country that
experienced three revolutions, two world wars, one civil war and several
local wars."
Exact figures are unknown, but historians say the reality was far more
murderous: that as many as 18 million people were sentenced to the gulag
under Stalin, while up to 10 million peasants died or were killed in the
collectivization of the early 1930s, and nearly 1 million people were
executed in the purges of 1937-38.
But Topchishvili said the new exhibit was progress. "Until three months
ago, no one wanted to talk about this part of history," she said.
Jacob Jugashvili, the dictator's 36-year-old great-grandson, an artist in
Tbilisi, said that if Georgians were nostalgic for Stalin, it was because
he made a small country part of a great superpower.
Jugashvili, who grew up in Moscow, said that when Georgians hear his
famous surname, they almost always respond: "Stalin was Georgian; that is
why he was great!"
Jugashvili, who favors the Westernized spelling of his name, said that
growing up as Stalin's great-grandson in 1980s Russia had been emotionally
difficult, as Stalin's leadership was attacked during the period of
Mikhail Gorbachev. At that time, he said, Georgians were far more
respectful of his legacy - though in Vladimir Putin's Russia, Jugashvili
said, Stalin's stature has again risen.
In 1989 he was in high school, "and perestroika had reached its boiling
point," he said, adding: "Moscow newspapers were publishing stories with
the headline 'Dzhugashvili Is a Killer!' I was 16 years old and I was very
upset. I didn't know how to defend myself." Tattoos of Stalin
These days, respect for Stalin can unite Georgians and Russians.
Nodari Baliashvili, 72, a Gori native who has a large tattoo of Stalin on
his back and another of Stalin and Lenin on his chest, recalled that after
war broke out in early August, he was working as a security guard at a bus
depot when a Russian colonel burst in and pointed a pisto
l at him.
Baliashvili recalled that he took off his shirt and the colonel "put his
gun down, kissed me on the cheek, gave me a bottle of vodka and
chocolates, and said, 'Grandpa, go home.' "
Baliashvili, who got the tattoos as a young soldier in the Soviet army,
said his own grandfather, a poor orphan from Gori, had been adopted by
Stalin's father, who made him an apprentice cobbler.
"I'm proud that Stalin comes from Gori," Baliashvili said. "He built the
U.S.S.R. He brought order where there was chaos. Today, everything is for
sale."
www.sfgate.com
Dan Bilefsky, New York Times
(10-05) Gori, Georgia -- With his signature mustache,
medal-encrusted Soviet marshal's uniform and determination to be addressed
as "Comrade," the Stalin impersonator Jamil Ziyadaliev should perhaps be
out of work in Georgia, a country still reeling from a war with Russia.
But Ziyadaliev, 64, an avuncular father of two who dresses as Stalin even
on days off, insists that business has seldom been better. He is a
frequent hired guest at weddings, where he dances to Soviet Katyusha music
from World War II.
The benefits of looking eerily like the former dictator, he boasts,
include free meals, free car repairs - and free passage through Russian
checkpoints. Looks come with perks
"Looking like Stalin is like having a visa in Georgia," said Ziyadaliev, a
Muslim originally from Azerbaijan, who drove a taxi, peddled vegetables
and worked as an accountant before deciding on a career as a modern
incarnation of the brutal, diabolically brilliant Soviet tyrant.
"All Georgians respect Stalin, because he was a great leader who created a
great empire - and, of course, he was the most famous Georgian who ever
lived," Ziyadaliev said.
Not everyone agrees. Nika Jabanashvili, a Georgian construction worker
whose grandparents were deported by Stalin from Tbilisi to Central Asia as
part of his repression of ethnic minorities, views Stalin as little more
than a murderer.
"Stalin was a Satan," he said. "He killed more people than Pharaoh. I
don't care if he was Georgian. He was a bad man."
Whatever the range of opini
ons, an enduring cult of Stalin persists in
this small but proud nation of 4.6 million, where the
Georgian-cobbler's-son-turned-20th-century-titan remains a towering if
contentious figure. A recent survey on Tbilisi Forum, a popular political
Web site, asked whether people were proud that Stalin was Georgian; a
vocal minority of 37 percent of the several hundred respondents said yes,
while 52 percent said no and 11 percent said they did not care.
Vakhtang Guruli, a historian of Georgia who works in the KGB archives in
Tbilisi, said that most Georgians regarded Stalin as "higher than man,
more than human and less than God."
He said contemporary Georgian history books still lauded Stalin for
vanquishing Hitler's fascism and transforming the Soviet Union into an
industrial superpower, even as they criticized him for engineering the Red
Army invasion that ended Georgia's short-lived independence in 1921.
Stalin's lust for power, Guruli added, was a decidedly Georgian
characteristic, the outgrowth of having an outsize ego in a tiny, macho
country long consumed by banditry.
"Russians tend to forget that Stalin had a Georgian last name,
Dzhugashvili, which was overshadowed when he adopted the nom de guerre of
Stalin, meaning man of steel, when he was in his 30s," Guruli said. "But
every Georgian knows Stalin came from here. He may have given his
execution orders in Russian, but he did so with a heavy Georgian accent" -
a lineage, Guruli said, that Nikita Khrushchev seized upon after he
denounced Stalin's rule in 1956, mocking him and his henchmen as uncouth
Georgian peasants.
Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of "Young Stalin," which chronicles
Stalin's violent upbringing as an aspiring priest who became a Marxist
revolutionary in Tbilisi, said that even when Stalin became the supreme
Soviet leader, he retained a deep attachment to Georgia.
He wrote frequently to his mother here, vacationed in Abkhazian sea
resorts and retained an abiding love of Georgian wine, food, poetry and
folk music.
"There are
two Stalins: the Russian Stalin and the Georgian Stalin," Sebag
Montefiore said. "In the Georgian version, Stalin is still the street
Marxist, the Georgian boy from Gori. In the Russian version, Stalin is the
most important leader of the 20th century and his Georgian identity has
been laundered and Russified." Stalin sculpture in backyard
Liana Imanidze, 71, whose grand home in Tbilisi has a sculpture of Stalin
in the backyard and is decorated inside with a replica of his death mask
perched on a pedestal, lamented that younger Georgians were ignorant about
Stalin, including her own grandchildren, who she complained were more
interested in Paris Hilton than in World War II.
She regretted that her Stalin-worshiping husband was "more in love with
Stalin than with me," but she nevertheless lauded Stalin as a flawed
genius.
Sociologists here said the residual appeal resulted from the lack of
historical reckoning about Stalin's darker deeds after Georgia gained
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
In Gori, Stalin's birthplace, a dusty provincial town where a marble
Stalin statue dominates the central square, toasts to "our great comrade"
remain commonplace at births and weddings. Embarrassed Georgians in the
Ministry of Interior said privately that they were disappointed a Russian
bomb had not landed on the statue during the August war.
On a recent day at the Stalin Museum here, young Georgian staff members
wearing Soviet military uniforms sold Stalin T-shirts, Stalin poetry books
and Stalin-embossed bottles of red wine, even as cleaners removed mortar
left over from the recent Russian shelling.
Olga Topchishvili, the museum's senior tour guide, said she had been
extolling Stalin's accomplishments for nearly 30 years, until three months
ago, when the museum added a new "gulag section." The section consists of
a laminated, letter-size piece of paper quoting three sentences from a
1997 issue of Pravda, the Russian newspaper: "About 3.8 million people
were prosecuted between 1921 and 1954," the p
aper says. "About 643,000
people were sentenced to death. And this happened in a country that
experienced three revolutions, two world wars, one civil war and several
local wars."
Exact figures are unknown, but historians say the reality was far more
murderous: that as many as 18 million people were sentenced to the gulag
under Stalin, while up to 10 million peasants died or were killed in the
collectivization of the early 1930s, and nearly 1 million people were
executed in the purges of 1937-38.
But Topchishvili said the new exhibit was progress. "Until three months
ago, no one wanted to talk about this part of history," she said.
Jacob Jugashvili, the dictator's 36-year-old great-grandson, an artist in
Tbilisi, said that if Georgians were nostalgic for Stalin, it was because
he made a small country part of a great superpower.
Jugashvili, who grew up in Moscow, said that when Georgians hear his
famous surname, they almost always respond: "Stalin was Georgian; that is
why he was great!"
Jugashvili, who favors the Westernized spelling of his name, said that
growing up as Stalin's great-grandson in 1980s Russia had been emotionally
difficult, as Stalin's leadership was attacked during the period of
Mikhail Gorbachev. At that time, he said, Georgians were far more
respectful of his legacy - though in Vladimir Putin's Russia, Jugashvili
said, Stalin's stature has again risen.
In 1989 he was in high school, "and perestroika had reached its boiling
point," he said, adding: "Moscow newspapers were publishing stories with
the headline 'Dzhugashvili Is a Killer!' I was 16 years old and I was very
upset. I didn't know how to defend myself." Tattoos of Stalin
These days, respect for Stalin can unite Georgians and Russians.
Nodari Baliashvili, 72, a Gori native who has a large tattoo of Stalin on
his back and another of Stalin and Lenin on his chest, recalled that after
war broke out in early August, he was working as a security guard at a bus
depot when a Russian colonel burst in and pointed a pisto
l at him.
Baliashvili recalled that he took off his shirt and the colonel "put his
gun down, kissed me on the cheek, gave me a bottle of vodka and
chocolates, and said, 'Grandpa, go home.' "
Baliashvili, who got the tattoos as a young soldier in the Soviet army,
said his own grandfather, a poor orphan from Gori, had been adopted by
Stalin's father, who made him an apprentice cobbler.
"I'm proud that Stalin comes from Gori," Baliashvili said. "He built the
U.S.S.R. He brought order where there was chaos. Today, everything is for
sale."
EU Georgia monitors see sign of Russian pullback
www.reuters.com
By Matt Robinson
TBILISI (Reuters) - EU ceasefire monitors in Georgia reported the dismantling of a Russian checkpoint near breakaway South Ossetia on Sunday, saying it was the "first open sign" of a promised Russian troop pullback by October 10.
A spokesman with the European Union monitoring mission said the checkpoint was in the Ali region of Georgia, northwest of the town of Gori.
"Monitors have been observing the dismantling of the checkpoint," the spokesman told Reuters. "This is the first open sign," he said, in a reference to the expected Russian troop withdrawal following a five-day war between Russia and Georgia in August.
The regional police chief told Reuters the checkpoint was in the village of Nabakhtevi.
Russia sent forces into Georgia to repel an offensive by Tbilisi to retake South Ossetia from pro-Moscow separatists. Moscow said it would pull back troops by October 10 from "security zones" it established on Georgian territory adjoining South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia.
The October 10 deadline was set under a French-brokered ceasefire. The EU deployed an observer mission of more than 200 unarmed monitors on October 1, with the initial task of monitoring the Russian pullback.
The Nabakhtevi checkpoint is west of the main conflict zone, in a region that did not see the displacement of villagers witnessed in the area running directly north of Gori up to the de facto border, where human rights groups say militias and paramilitaries looted and burned Georgian homes.
"POSITIVE STEP"
In a previous withdrawal from the Black Sea area of Poti last month, Russian troops spent days dismantling checkpoints and moving supplies and equipment before finally pulling out.
Germany was quick to welcome the sign of withdrawal.
"It's a positive first step which must be followed by others," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement published by his office on Sunday.
"It's important for the stabilization of the Caucasus and for the forthcoming talks in Geneva that the Russian pullback from the security zones around South Ossetia and Abkhazia is completed quickly and according to the agreed timetable."
Internationally mediated talks are due in Geneva on October 15 to discuss security in the region and the return of refugees.
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake South Ossetia, a rebel Georgian province which threw off Tbilisi's rule in the early 1990s.
Russian forces subsequently drove Georgian government troops out of South Ossetia. Moscow's troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent more Georgian attacks.
The West has condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions and demanded Moscow pull back its troops from Georgian territory outside the conflict zones.
Despite international censure, Moscow has also recognized both rebel regions as independent states and plans to station some 7,600 soldiers there. It says the EU monitors will not be allowed to operate in either South Ossetia or Abkhazia.
(Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze; editing by Myra MacDonald)
By Matt Robinson
TBILISI (Reuters) - EU ceasefire monitors in Georgia reported the dismantling of a Russian checkpoint near breakaway South Ossetia on Sunday, saying it was the "first open sign" of a promised Russian troop pullback by October 10.
A spokesman with the European Union monitoring mission said the checkpoint was in the Ali region of Georgia, northwest of the town of Gori.
"Monitors have been observing the dismantling of the checkpoint," the spokesman told Reuters. "This is the first open sign," he said, in a reference to the expected Russian troop withdrawal following a five-day war between Russia and Georgia in August.
The regional police chief told Reuters the checkpoint was in the village of Nabakhtevi.
Russia sent forces into Georgia to repel an offensive by Tbilisi to retake South Ossetia from pro-Moscow separatists. Moscow said it would pull back troops by October 10 from "security zones" it established on Georgian territory adjoining South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia.
The October 10 deadline was set under a French-brokered ceasefire. The EU deployed an observer mission of more than 200 unarmed monitors on October 1, with the initial task of monitoring the Russian pullback.
The Nabakhtevi checkpoint is west of the main conflict zone, in a region that did not see the displacement of villagers witnessed in the area running directly north of Gori up to the de facto border, where human rights groups say militias and paramilitaries looted and burned Georgian homes.
"POSITIVE STEP"
In a previous withdrawal from the Black Sea area of Poti last month, Russian troops spent days dismantling checkpoints and moving supplies and equipment before finally pulling out.
Germany was quick to welcome the sign of withdrawal.
"It's a positive first step which must be followed by others," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement published by his office on Sunday.
"It's important for the stabilization of the Caucasus and for the forthcoming talks in Geneva that the Russian pullback from the security zones around South Ossetia and Abkhazia is completed quickly and according to the agreed timetable."
Internationally mediated talks are due in Geneva on October 15 to discuss security in the region and the return of refugees.
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake South Ossetia, a rebel Georgian province which threw off Tbilisi's rule in the early 1990s.
Russian forces subsequently drove Georgian government troops out of South Ossetia. Moscow's troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent more Georgian attacks.
The West has condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions and demanded Moscow pull back its troops from Georgian territory outside the conflict zones.
Despite international censure, Moscow has also recognized both rebel regions as independent states and plans to station some 7,600 soldiers there. It says the EU monitors will not be allowed to operate in either South Ossetia or Abkhazia.
(Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze; editing by Myra MacDonald)
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Senior Russia peacekeeper died in S.Ossetia blast
www.reuters.com
Sat Oct 4, 2008
MOSCOW, Oct 4 (Reuters) - A senior Russian peacekeeping officer was among seven soldiers killed on Friday in an explosion in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, Russian media reported on Saturday.
On Friday, seven Russian peacekeepers died and another seven were wounded when a car filled with explosives blew up near their base in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, news agencies reported.
RIA Novosti on Saturday quoted a representative of Russia's Ground Force as saying Colonel Ivan Petrik, the Russian peacekeepers' chief of staff, was killed in that blast. He was in his office when the explosion went off near the building.
"Petrik was severely wounded by the blast wave and died at the explosion site," RIA quoted the official as saying.
South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity on Friday blamed Georgian security services for the blast. The Georgian Interior Ministry denied the charges.
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia, which threw off Georgian rule in the early 1990s.
Russian forces subsequently drove Georgian government troops out of South Ossetia. Moscow's troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks.
The West has condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions and demanded that Moscow pull back its troops from Georgian territory outside the conflict zones.
Under a plan mediated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, EU monitors have now entered a Russian-controlled buffer zone around South Ossetia to begin a peacekeeping operation.
On Friday, Russia's Defence Ministry said it viewed the explosion as "a deliberately planned terrorist act aimed at preventing the sides from carrying out the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan," but did not specify who exactly was behind the blast.
EU ceasefire monitors were continuing operations despite security concerns after the blast.
A spokesman for the mission said unarmed monitors had been patrolling as normal on Saturday, including within the Russian-controlled buffer zone adjacent to South Ossetia. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Additional reporting by Matt Robinson; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Sat Oct 4, 2008
MOSCOW, Oct 4 (Reuters) - A senior Russian peacekeeping officer was among seven soldiers killed on Friday in an explosion in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, Russian media reported on Saturday.
On Friday, seven Russian peacekeepers died and another seven were wounded when a car filled with explosives blew up near their base in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, news agencies reported.
RIA Novosti on Saturday quoted a representative of Russia's Ground Force as saying Colonel Ivan Petrik, the Russian peacekeepers' chief of staff, was killed in that blast. He was in his office when the explosion went off near the building.
"Petrik was severely wounded by the blast wave and died at the explosion site," RIA quoted the official as saying.
South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity on Friday blamed Georgian security services for the blast. The Georgian Interior Ministry denied the charges.
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia, which threw off Georgian rule in the early 1990s.
Russian forces subsequently drove Georgian government troops out of South Ossetia. Moscow's troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks.
The West has condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions and demanded that Moscow pull back its troops from Georgian territory outside the conflict zones.
Under a plan mediated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, EU monitors have now entered a Russian-controlled buffer zone around South Ossetia to begin a peacekeeping operation.
On Friday, Russia's Defence Ministry said it viewed the explosion as "a deliberately planned terrorist act aimed at preventing the sides from carrying out the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan," but did not specify who exactly was behind the blast.
EU ceasefire monitors were continuing operations despite security concerns after the blast.
A spokesman for the mission said unarmed monitors had been patrolling as normal on Saturday, including within the Russian-controlled buffer zone adjacent to South Ossetia. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Additional reporting by Matt Robinson; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Russia blames Georgia for S.Ossetia blast
www.reuters.com
Sat Oct 4, 2008
MOSCOW, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Russia blamed Georgia on Saturday for an explosion that killed Russian soldiers in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.
A senior Russian peacekeeping officer was among seven soldiers killed on Friday when a car blew up at the Russian peacekeepers' base in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, the Russian military said. Russia's Interfax news agency quoted South Ossetia's Interior Ministry as saying a total of 11 people had been killed, including civilians. The RIA agency quoted a military spokesman as saying Colonel Ivan Petrik, the Russian peacekeepers' chief of staff, had been killed in his office.
Georgia sent troops and tanks in August to assert control of the pro-Russian separatist region, but was routed by Russian forces, which went on to occupy parts of the Georgian heartland.
Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's Prosecutor General's Office, told Itar-Tass news agency that the office had "all grounds to believe that the explosion in Tskhinvali was arranged by the secret services of Georgia and is aimed at Russian peacekeepers to destabilise the situation".
Russia's RIA news agency quoted the commander of Russia's forces in Georgia, Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov, as saying they had stopped two cars on Friday in the village of Ditsa, in a Russian-controlled buffer zone around South Ossetia, and escorted them to Tskhinvali.
As they were being searched, a bomb went off.
Georgia denied the charges, saying it would have had to find Ossetians to take the car into the area under Russian control.
"I don't understand the logic. How could the Georgian secret service plan that the Ossetians would steal the car and that the Russians would take it to their base. Are we geniuses or what?" Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said.
"The Georgians did not take any car to Ossetian territory or drive it to the Russian base."
Utiashvili suggested the Russians were trying to delay their withdrawal from the buffer zone, due to be complete by Oct. 10 under a French-mediated ceasefire agreement.
Unarmed EU monitors have entered the buffer zone to monitor the agreement. A spokesman for the mission said they were patrolling as normal on Saturday. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Matt Robinson; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Sat Oct 4, 2008
MOSCOW, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Russia blamed Georgia on Saturday for an explosion that killed Russian soldiers in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.
A senior Russian peacekeeping officer was among seven soldiers killed on Friday when a car blew up at the Russian peacekeepers' base in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, the Russian military said. Russia's Interfax news agency quoted South Ossetia's Interior Ministry as saying a total of 11 people had been killed, including civilians. The RIA agency quoted a military spokesman as saying Colonel Ivan Petrik, the Russian peacekeepers' chief of staff, had been killed in his office.
Georgia sent troops and tanks in August to assert control of the pro-Russian separatist region, but was routed by Russian forces, which went on to occupy parts of the Georgian heartland.
Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's Prosecutor General's Office, told Itar-Tass news agency that the office had "all grounds to believe that the explosion in Tskhinvali was arranged by the secret services of Georgia and is aimed at Russian peacekeepers to destabilise the situation".
Russia's RIA news agency quoted the commander of Russia's forces in Georgia, Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov, as saying they had stopped two cars on Friday in the village of Ditsa, in a Russian-controlled buffer zone around South Ossetia, and escorted them to Tskhinvali.
As they were being searched, a bomb went off.
Georgia denied the charges, saying it would have had to find Ossetians to take the car into the area under Russian control.
"I don't understand the logic. How could the Georgian secret service plan that the Ossetians would steal the car and that the Russians would take it to their base. Are we geniuses or what?" Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said.
"The Georgians did not take any car to Ossetian territory or drive it to the Russian base."
Utiashvili suggested the Russians were trying to delay their withdrawal from the buffer zone, due to be complete by Oct. 10 under a French-mediated ceasefire agreement.
Unarmed EU monitors have entered the buffer zone to monitor the agreement. A spokesman for the mission said they were patrolling as normal on Saturday. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Matt Robinson; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Seven Russian soldiers killed in S.Ossetia blast
www.reuters.com
By Oleg Shchedrov
MOSCOW, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Seven Russian peacekeepers were killed and seven others wounded when a car filled with explosives blew up near their base in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia on Friday, Russian news agencies reported.
Russia's Defence Ministry described the blast as a "terrorist act" aimed at undermining international efforts to restore peace in the region, scene of a five-day war between Tbilisi and Moscow in August.
The South Ossetian leader pointed the finger at Tbilisi. But Georgia denied responsibility.
"Seven servicemen died, another seven were wounded," Interfax news agency quoted the peacekeepers' commander, Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov, as saying.
RIA news agency quoted Kulakhmetov as saying that the peacekeepers, which control the region and a swathe of Georgian territory outside it, had detained two cars in the Georgian village of Ditsa.
"There were four people, apparently ethnic Georgians, in the car. Light firearms and two grenades were also found," Kukakhmetov said.
"The cars and the detained people were escorted to (South Ossetian capital) Tskhinvali," he added. "During the search of one of the cars, an explosive device equivalent to some 20 kg (50 lb) of TNT went off."
Thick black smoke plumed into the air after the explosion. Police cars and ambulances rushed to the scene.
"Russia's Defence Ministry views the incident as a deliberately planned terrorist act aimed at preventing the sides from carrying out the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan," the ministry said in a statement.
BLAMES
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in the early 1990s.
Russian forces subsequently drove Georgian government troops out of South Ossetia. Moscow's troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks.
The West has condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions and demanded that Moscow pull back its troops from Georgian territory outside the conflict zones.
Under a plan mediated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, EU monitors have now entered a Russian-controlled buffer zone around South Ossetia to begin a peacekeeping operation.
Russia says confiscating illegal weapons and explosives was part of the work carried out by its troops.
The Defence Ministry statement did not specify who exactly was behind the blast. But South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity blamed Georgian security services.
"This was a deliberate act by the Georgian security services," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying. "The (Russian) military and people who bought the car in Georgia and delivered it to Tskhinvali for checks, died in the blast."
The Georgian Interior Ministry denied the charges.
"If provocations and tensions are in the interest of anyone, it's the Russians," ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told Reuters. "They are doing everything not to pull out troops within the set term." (Additional reporting by Tatyana Ustinova in Moscow and Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi; Writing by Oleg Shchedrov; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
By Oleg Shchedrov
MOSCOW, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Seven Russian peacekeepers were killed and seven others wounded when a car filled with explosives blew up near their base in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia on Friday, Russian news agencies reported.
Russia's Defence Ministry described the blast as a "terrorist act" aimed at undermining international efforts to restore peace in the region, scene of a five-day war between Tbilisi and Moscow in August.
The South Ossetian leader pointed the finger at Tbilisi. But Georgia denied responsibility.
"Seven servicemen died, another seven were wounded," Interfax news agency quoted the peacekeepers' commander, Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov, as saying.
RIA news agency quoted Kulakhmetov as saying that the peacekeepers, which control the region and a swathe of Georgian territory outside it, had detained two cars in the Georgian village of Ditsa.
"There were four people, apparently ethnic Georgians, in the car. Light firearms and two grenades were also found," Kukakhmetov said.
"The cars and the detained people were escorted to (South Ossetian capital) Tskhinvali," he added. "During the search of one of the cars, an explosive device equivalent to some 20 kg (50 lb) of TNT went off."
Thick black smoke plumed into the air after the explosion. Police cars and ambulances rushed to the scene.
"Russia's Defence Ministry views the incident as a deliberately planned terrorist act aimed at preventing the sides from carrying out the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan," the ministry said in a statement.
BLAMES
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in the early 1990s.
Russian forces subsequently drove Georgian government troops out of South Ossetia. Moscow's troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks.
The West has condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions and demanded that Moscow pull back its troops from Georgian territory outside the conflict zones.
Under a plan mediated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, EU monitors have now entered a Russian-controlled buffer zone around South Ossetia to begin a peacekeeping operation.
Russia says confiscating illegal weapons and explosives was part of the work carried out by its troops.
The Defence Ministry statement did not specify who exactly was behind the blast. But South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity blamed Georgian security services.
"This was a deliberate act by the Georgian security services," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying. "The (Russian) military and people who bought the car in Georgia and delivered it to Tskhinvali for checks, died in the blast."
The Georgian Interior Ministry denied the charges.
"If provocations and tensions are in the interest of anyone, it's the Russians," ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told Reuters. "They are doing everything not to pull out troops within the set term." (Additional reporting by Tatyana Ustinova in Moscow and Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi; Writing by Oleg Shchedrov; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Monitors in Georgia Enter South Ossetia Buffer Zone
www.nyt.com
MOSCOW — European civilian monitors entered the Georgian buffer zone outside the separatist enclave of South Ossetia on Wednesday, despite a warning from a Russian military official a day earlier that the monitors would not be allowed access to the buffer zone.
European Union observers visited Mukhrani, a Georgian village, while monitoring a cease-fire.
At the same time, Russia’s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, said that Russia would fulfill its commitment to withdraw its troops to the boundaries of South Ossetia and the other breakaway enclave, Abkhazia, by Oct. 10.
“We will do everything on time,” he said at a news conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he traveled for talks with Spain’s prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Mr. Medvedev also said that there was no ideological basis for hostility between Russia and the West, and that he hoped to resume cooperative partnerships with NATO that were suspended in the aftermath of the war in Georgia. “Today, we don’t have the kinds of ideological differences which could spark off a cold war or, for that matter, any other war,” he said, noting that whoever won the United States presidential elections in November would probably have to focus on the financial crisis.
“It requires a lot of attention,” he said. “It’s much simpler to analyze international questions than to make the necessary economic decisions on time.”
Of NATO, he said that “the cooperation is no less important for them than for us.”
“Ultimately,” he said, “everything will be restored in full.”
Russian frustration with NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe, which includes discussing possible membership for Georgia and Ukraine, has contributed to soured relations with the West.
In an interview published Thursday in the newspaper Izvestia, Nikolai Patrushev, the chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said he believed that NATO might deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Georgia and Ukraine if they were admitted to the alliance. From those positions, strikes could be aimed at targets in “the European part of Russia, including elements of government and military control.”
“That kind of American action could lead to the strengthening of mutual distrust and a buildup of an arms race, which we, I would note, do not seek,” Mr. Patrushev said, according to text on the newspaper’s Web site. “We are interested in sustaining normal neighborly relationships.”
The patrols in Georgia were a provision of the cease-fire agreement brokered by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and agreed to by Russia on Sept. 8. By midafternoon Wednesday, 14 patrols had been deployed, including some that crossed into the buffer zone near South Ossetia at three Russian checkpoints, according to Hansjörg Haber, the European Union’s mission director in Georgia. A patrol also made contact with Russian troops at a checkpoint on the boundary of Abkhazia, but did not cross in, he said.
Fighting broke out between Georgia and Russia in early August, after Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, ordered an attack on Russian positions in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. Russian troops poured across the border in response and drove deep into Georgian territory.
On Aug. 26, Moscow recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as sovereign nations. Russia plans to keep troops there as its military withdraws from the rest of Georgia.
Stephen Castle contributed reporting from Brussels, Olesya Vartanyan from Tbilisi, Georgia, and Alan Cowell from London.
MOSCOW — European civilian monitors entered the Georgian buffer zone outside the separatist enclave of South Ossetia on Wednesday, despite a warning from a Russian military official a day earlier that the monitors would not be allowed access to the buffer zone.
European Union observers visited Mukhrani, a Georgian village, while monitoring a cease-fire.
At the same time, Russia’s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, said that Russia would fulfill its commitment to withdraw its troops to the boundaries of South Ossetia and the other breakaway enclave, Abkhazia, by Oct. 10.
“We will do everything on time,” he said at a news conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he traveled for talks with Spain’s prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Mr. Medvedev also said that there was no ideological basis for hostility between Russia and the West, and that he hoped to resume cooperative partnerships with NATO that were suspended in the aftermath of the war in Georgia. “Today, we don’t have the kinds of ideological differences which could spark off a cold war or, for that matter, any other war,” he said, noting that whoever won the United States presidential elections in November would probably have to focus on the financial crisis.
“It requires a lot of attention,” he said. “It’s much simpler to analyze international questions than to make the necessary economic decisions on time.”
Of NATO, he said that “the cooperation is no less important for them than for us.”
“Ultimately,” he said, “everything will be restored in full.”
Russian frustration with NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe, which includes discussing possible membership for Georgia and Ukraine, has contributed to soured relations with the West.
In an interview published Thursday in the newspaper Izvestia, Nikolai Patrushev, the chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said he believed that NATO might deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Georgia and Ukraine if they were admitted to the alliance. From those positions, strikes could be aimed at targets in “the European part of Russia, including elements of government and military control.”
“That kind of American action could lead to the strengthening of mutual distrust and a buildup of an arms race, which we, I would note, do not seek,” Mr. Patrushev said, according to text on the newspaper’s Web site. “We are interested in sustaining normal neighborly relationships.”
The patrols in Georgia were a provision of the cease-fire agreement brokered by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and agreed to by Russia on Sept. 8. By midafternoon Wednesday, 14 patrols had been deployed, including some that crossed into the buffer zone near South Ossetia at three Russian checkpoints, according to Hansjörg Haber, the European Union’s mission director in Georgia. A patrol also made contact with Russian troops at a checkpoint on the boundary of Abkhazia, but did not cross in, he said.
Fighting broke out between Georgia and Russia in early August, after Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, ordered an attack on Russian positions in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. Russian troops poured across the border in response and drove deep into Georgian territory.
On Aug. 26, Moscow recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as sovereign nations. Russia plans to keep troops there as its military withdraws from the rest of Georgia.
Stephen Castle contributed reporting from Brussels, Olesya Vartanyan from Tbilisi, Georgia, and Alan Cowell from London.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
EU cease-fire monitors begin patrols in Georgia
www.ap.com
By MATT SIEGEL
KARALETI, Georgia (AP) — European Union monitors began patrolling Georgian territory Wednesday and Russian troops allowed some of them into a buffer zone around the breakaway region of South Ossetia despite earlier warnings from Moscow they would be blocked.
Russian peacekeepers had said Tuesday that none of the 300 observers would be immediately permitted to be in the buffer zone, raising concerns that Moscow was stalling on withdrawing its troops from Georgia as it promised to do after its war with Georgia in August.
But EU monitors were quickly allowed to pass through Russian checkpoints Wednesday near two Georgian villages on the perimeter of Moscow's so-called "security zone."
"The situation is very calm," said Ivan Kukushkin, a smiling Russian officer in charge of the checkpoint near Kvenatkotsa.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana's spokeswoman confirmed the deployment of the monitors was going smoothly and that they have been able to go "wherever they planned to go."
Russia and Georgia agreed to the EU observer mission as part of an updated cease-fire plan following the war, which ended with Russian and separatist forces in control of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Russians also dug in on other territory in Georgia.
Terrified residents in the village of Karaleti, which was devastated by weeks of looting by South Ossetian militia, said EU monitors had come too late. Vitaly Shavishishvili, 24, and his relatives are now living in a cowshed after looters burned down their two-story house and stole two of their vehicles.
"We only count on ourselves," Shavishishvili said.
Zaira Mamagulashvili, 62, said that the looters burned more than 30 houses in the village and looted the local store and then blew it up with hand grenades.
"No one is in control. We are afraid of everyone," said Misha Sukhitashvili, another Karaleti resident. "A Russian soldier is the kind of guy who after he has a drink is capable of anything."
As part of the French-brokered cease-fire deal, Moscow agreed to withdraw its forces completely from areas outside of South Ossetia and Abkhazia within 10 days of the EU monitors' deployment — including from a roughly 4-mile buffer zone they have created southward from South Ossetia.
"The Russians gave us plans for dismantling their (check)points but didn't say when," EU mission director Hansjoerg Haber told reporters.
At the Russian checkpoint near the Georgian village of Kvenatkotsa, an armored personnel carrier was parked up the hill near camouflaged tents and there was no sign of any preparations for a Russian troop pullback.
Russia still plans to keep around 7,600 troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and has refused to allow EU monitors inside the regions themselves.
"Show the flag, be friendly, show confidence," Haber told monitors in Basaleti, about 12 miles north of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
The EU observers will be based in four semi-permanent locations, including the central city of Gori near South Ossetia and the Black Sea port of Poti, key targets of Russian forces.
Solana, who visited Georgia on Tuesday, expressed optimism that Moscow would pull its troops back in the promised time frame.
The war began Aug. 7 when Georgian troops launched an offensive to regain control of South Ossetia. Russia sent troops, which quickly routed the Georgian military and pushed deep into Georgia.
Russia's continued occupation of Georgian territory and its subsequent recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia has drawn strong condemnation from the West, which urged Moscow to respect Georgia's sovereignty.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev insisted Wednesday that the military action was necessary to repel the Georgian aggression and protect Russian citizens and peacekeepers in the region.
"We have done a right thing," Medvedev said in the Kremlin after giving medals to soldiers who fought in the war. "We have shown that Russia can protect its citizens, that all other nations must reckon with it."
Associated Press writers Mansur Mirovalev and Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili in Bazaleti and Odisi, Georgia, contributed to this report.
By MATT SIEGEL
KARALETI, Georgia (AP) — European Union monitors began patrolling Georgian territory Wednesday and Russian troops allowed some of them into a buffer zone around the breakaway region of South Ossetia despite earlier warnings from Moscow they would be blocked.
Russian peacekeepers had said Tuesday that none of the 300 observers would be immediately permitted to be in the buffer zone, raising concerns that Moscow was stalling on withdrawing its troops from Georgia as it promised to do after its war with Georgia in August.
But EU monitors were quickly allowed to pass through Russian checkpoints Wednesday near two Georgian villages on the perimeter of Moscow's so-called "security zone."
"The situation is very calm," said Ivan Kukushkin, a smiling Russian officer in charge of the checkpoint near Kvenatkotsa.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana's spokeswoman confirmed the deployment of the monitors was going smoothly and that they have been able to go "wherever they planned to go."
Russia and Georgia agreed to the EU observer mission as part of an updated cease-fire plan following the war, which ended with Russian and separatist forces in control of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Russians also dug in on other territory in Georgia.
Terrified residents in the village of Karaleti, which was devastated by weeks of looting by South Ossetian militia, said EU monitors had come too late. Vitaly Shavishishvili, 24, and his relatives are now living in a cowshed after looters burned down their two-story house and stole two of their vehicles.
"We only count on ourselves," Shavishishvili said.
Zaira Mamagulashvili, 62, said that the looters burned more than 30 houses in the village and looted the local store and then blew it up with hand grenades.
"No one is in control. We are afraid of everyone," said Misha Sukhitashvili, another Karaleti resident. "A Russian soldier is the kind of guy who after he has a drink is capable of anything."
As part of the French-brokered cease-fire deal, Moscow agreed to withdraw its forces completely from areas outside of South Ossetia and Abkhazia within 10 days of the EU monitors' deployment — including from a roughly 4-mile buffer zone they have created southward from South Ossetia.
"The Russians gave us plans for dismantling their (check)points but didn't say when," EU mission director Hansjoerg Haber told reporters.
At the Russian checkpoint near the Georgian village of Kvenatkotsa, an armored personnel carrier was parked up the hill near camouflaged tents and there was no sign of any preparations for a Russian troop pullback.
Russia still plans to keep around 7,600 troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and has refused to allow EU monitors inside the regions themselves.
"Show the flag, be friendly, show confidence," Haber told monitors in Basaleti, about 12 miles north of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
The EU observers will be based in four semi-permanent locations, including the central city of Gori near South Ossetia and the Black Sea port of Poti, key targets of Russian forces.
Solana, who visited Georgia on Tuesday, expressed optimism that Moscow would pull its troops back in the promised time frame.
The war began Aug. 7 when Georgian troops launched an offensive to regain control of South Ossetia. Russia sent troops, which quickly routed the Georgian military and pushed deep into Georgia.
Russia's continued occupation of Georgian territory and its subsequent recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia has drawn strong condemnation from the West, which urged Moscow to respect Georgia's sovereignty.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev insisted Wednesday that the military action was necessary to repel the Georgian aggression and protect Russian citizens and peacekeepers in the region.
"We have done a right thing," Medvedev said in the Kremlin after giving medals to soldiers who fought in the war. "We have shown that Russia can protect its citizens, that all other nations must reckon with it."
Associated Press writers Mansur Mirovalev and Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili in Bazaleti and Odisi, Georgia, contributed to this report.
First EU monitors enter Georgian buffer zones
http://www.reuters.com/Wed Oct 1, 2008 10:49am EDT
By Margarita Antidze
NABAKHTEVI, Georgia (Reuters) - EU monitors entered a Russian-controlled buffer zone around Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia for the first time on Wednesday in what they said was a smooth start to their peacekeeping operation.
The 200-plus EU monitors began deploying under a French-brokered ceasefire deal that should see Moscow pull troops back within 10 days from two buffer zones inside Georgia, occupied during a war between the two countries in August.
The Russian military and EU officials had said earlier there was still no agreement on full access to the zones. But on Wednesday at least two EU patrols entered the South Ossetia buffer zone at separate locations, passing Russian checkpoints.
A Reuters reporter traveling with one of the patrols, led by French civilian monitors, entered the zone in the village of Nabakhtevi, west of the town of Gori. "We're in the buffer zone," one of the monitors confirmed.
A smooth deployment is critical to the success of the peace deal and will test Russia's willingness to stick to its terms. The crisis over Georgia, an aspiring NATO member and key transit state for exports of Caspian Sea oil and gas, has gravely damaged Moscow's relations with Europe and the United States.
After lengthy discussions with Russian commanders, a second patrol entered at Karaleti, in an area where human rights groups say paramilitaries have been looting and attacking ethnic Georgian villages since the war, forcing thousands to flee.
"Patrols made first contact with authorities and (the local) population," an EU spokesman said. "They also passed different Russian checkpoints and entered the so-called adjacent areas."
A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said: "They have been able to go wherever they planned to go."
The EU mission said it hoped to coordinate a "step-by-step" withdrawal of Russian forces and simultaneous return of Georgian police to the buffer zones to avoid a security vacuum that could be exploited by roaming militias.
Georgia welcomed the EU's entry to the buffer zones.
"It is once more confirmation that when the international community is unified and resolute, the Russians are compelled to comply," said National Security Council Secretary Kakha Lomaia.
NO ACCESS TO REBEL REGIONS
Russia has said the EU monitors will not be allowed inside South Ossetia or a second breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia, both of which it has recognized since the conflict as independent states. Moscow says it can guarantee security in the rebel regions, where it plans to post more than 7,000 troops.
As the monitors set off, access remained an issue, with EU mission head Hansjoerg Haber telling reporters that assurances offered by Russia at the political level were "understood differently" by the military on the ground.
He said Russian forces had given "all sorts of reasons" for denying access, including security concerns. In western Georgia, a Reuters TV reporter saw an EU patrol approach a Russian post near the de facto border with Abkhazia but turn back.
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia's army tried to retake Moscow-backed South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in 1991-92. Russia responded with a powerful counter-strike that drove the Georgian army out of South Ossetia. Its forces then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks.
The West has condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions and has repeatedly demanded that Moscow pull its troops out of the buffer zones inside Georgia.
In Tbilisi, the Georgian police displayed what they said was a Russian unmanned reconnaissance drone that fell out of the sky on Tuesday just outside South Ossetia. "This is our territory, we control it," said spokesman Shota Utiashvili.
A spokesman for Russian forces in South Ossetia, Lt-Col Vitaly Manushko, said he could not confirm the Georgian claim, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
(Additional reporting by Matt Robinson in Bazaleti, Georgia; Writing by Conor Sweeney and Matt Robinson; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
By Margarita Antidze
NABAKHTEVI, Georgia (Reuters) - EU monitors entered a Russian-controlled buffer zone around Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia for the first time on Wednesday in what they said was a smooth start to their peacekeeping operation.
The 200-plus EU monitors began deploying under a French-brokered ceasefire deal that should see Moscow pull troops back within 10 days from two buffer zones inside Georgia, occupied during a war between the two countries in August.
The Russian military and EU officials had said earlier there was still no agreement on full access to the zones. But on Wednesday at least two EU patrols entered the South Ossetia buffer zone at separate locations, passing Russian checkpoints.
A Reuters reporter traveling with one of the patrols, led by French civilian monitors, entered the zone in the village of Nabakhtevi, west of the town of Gori. "We're in the buffer zone," one of the monitors confirmed.
A smooth deployment is critical to the success of the peace deal and will test Russia's willingness to stick to its terms. The crisis over Georgia, an aspiring NATO member and key transit state for exports of Caspian Sea oil and gas, has gravely damaged Moscow's relations with Europe and the United States.
After lengthy discussions with Russian commanders, a second patrol entered at Karaleti, in an area where human rights groups say paramilitaries have been looting and attacking ethnic Georgian villages since the war, forcing thousands to flee.
"Patrols made first contact with authorities and (the local) population," an EU spokesman said. "They also passed different Russian checkpoints and entered the so-called adjacent areas."
A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said: "They have been able to go wherever they planned to go."
The EU mission said it hoped to coordinate a "step-by-step" withdrawal of Russian forces and simultaneous return of Georgian police to the buffer zones to avoid a security vacuum that could be exploited by roaming militias.
Georgia welcomed the EU's entry to the buffer zones.
"It is once more confirmation that when the international community is unified and resolute, the Russians are compelled to comply," said National Security Council Secretary Kakha Lomaia.
NO ACCESS TO REBEL REGIONS
Russia has said the EU monitors will not be allowed inside South Ossetia or a second breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia, both of which it has recognized since the conflict as independent states. Moscow says it can guarantee security in the rebel regions, where it plans to post more than 7,000 troops.
As the monitors set off, access remained an issue, with EU mission head Hansjoerg Haber telling reporters that assurances offered by Russia at the political level were "understood differently" by the military on the ground.
He said Russian forces had given "all sorts of reasons" for denying access, including security concerns. In western Georgia, a Reuters TV reporter saw an EU patrol approach a Russian post near the de facto border with Abkhazia but turn back.
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia's army tried to retake Moscow-backed South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in 1991-92. Russia responded with a powerful counter-strike that drove the Georgian army out of South Ossetia. Its forces then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks.
The West has condemned Russia for a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions and has repeatedly demanded that Moscow pull its troops out of the buffer zones inside Georgia.
In Tbilisi, the Georgian police displayed what they said was a Russian unmanned reconnaissance drone that fell out of the sky on Tuesday just outside South Ossetia. "This is our territory, we control it," said spokesman Shota Utiashvili.
A spokesman for Russian forces in South Ossetia, Lt-Col Vitaly Manushko, said he could not confirm the Georgian claim, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
(Additional reporting by Matt Robinson in Bazaleti, Georgia; Writing by Conor Sweeney and Matt Robinson; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Grateful Abkhazia Thanks Russia on Its National Day
http://www.reuters.com/
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Mikhail Voskresensky / Reuters
SUKHUMI, Georgia — Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia proclaimed President Dmitry Medvedev a hero Tuesday as the region celebrated its first national day since Moscow recognized it as an independent state.
Russian and Abkhaz flags fluttered over the capital Sukhumi to mark the 15th anniversary of the Black Sea region's victory over Georgian forces in a separatist war.
Among the smiling crowds milling around war memorials on Tuesday, a few individuals sadly hunted out the names of sons or husbands killed in the 1992-1993 war that drove Tbilisi's forces from Abkhaz territory.
"We celebrate and we cry all together," said Feniya Leiba-Khagush, 62, as she stroked the engraved name of her only son Robert, who died in the battle to retake Sukhumi.
Her sister, Galina, comforted her as they walked around to show the names of two cousins whose names are also among the 1,667 engraved on the memorial in the town center.
"The pain will never leave us, but we are grateful that we are understood now. Thanks to Medvedev, we are safe. He saved us; he is a true hero of Abkhazia," she said.
Abkhaz had rushed to clean up Sukhumi for the occasion, repairing pavement and resurfacing roads.
The Hotel Abkhazia, once the town's centerpiece but now a gutted shell, has been shrouded in hoardings to hide the worst of the damage.
Abkhaz officials said they would forever remain vigilant in case Tbilisi again tried to take back the territory.
"Georgia remains an aggressive neighbor. … I do not know when it will start down a civilized path, but I am convinced of one thing: It will long employ terrorism as the main instrument in its policies toward Abkhazia and South Ossetia," separatist leader Sergei Bagapsh said at a meeting of war veterans and visiting delegations on the eve of the holiday.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Mikhail Voskresensky / Reuters
SUKHUMI, Georgia — Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia proclaimed President Dmitry Medvedev a hero Tuesday as the region celebrated its first national day since Moscow recognized it as an independent state.
Russian and Abkhaz flags fluttered over the capital Sukhumi to mark the 15th anniversary of the Black Sea region's victory over Georgian forces in a separatist war.
Among the smiling crowds milling around war memorials on Tuesday, a few individuals sadly hunted out the names of sons or husbands killed in the 1992-1993 war that drove Tbilisi's forces from Abkhaz territory.
"We celebrate and we cry all together," said Feniya Leiba-Khagush, 62, as she stroked the engraved name of her only son Robert, who died in the battle to retake Sukhumi.
Her sister, Galina, comforted her as they walked around to show the names of two cousins whose names are also among the 1,667 engraved on the memorial in the town center.
"The pain will never leave us, but we are grateful that we are understood now. Thanks to Medvedev, we are safe. He saved us; he is a true hero of Abkhazia," she said.
Abkhaz had rushed to clean up Sukhumi for the occasion, repairing pavement and resurfacing roads.
The Hotel Abkhazia, once the town's centerpiece but now a gutted shell, has been shrouded in hoardings to hide the worst of the damage.
Abkhaz officials said they would forever remain vigilant in case Tbilisi again tried to take back the territory.
"Georgia remains an aggressive neighbor. … I do not know when it will start down a civilized path, but I am convinced of one thing: It will long employ terrorism as the main instrument in its policies toward Abkhazia and South Ossetia," separatist leader Sergei Bagapsh said at a meeting of war veterans and visiting delegations on the eve of the holiday.
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