RUSSIAN DUMA OFFICIAL WARNS AGAINST USE OF FORCE IN GEORGIA’S AJARIA
RIA news agency, Moscow
30 Apr 04
MOSCOW
Andrey Kokoshin, chairman of the State Duma Committee on the CIS and
Relations with Compatriots, has warned against attempts by Georgia to
resolve the Ajaria problem by force.
“Developments with regard to Ajaria is causing great concern yet
again,” Andrey Kokoshin has told RIA-Novosti.
In his view, “the destabilization of the situation in the region
caused by the Georgian authorities’ attempts to resolve this problem
by force directly touches on the interests of Russia’s national
security. This was stated in the Duma’s recent appeal to Georgian
MPs.”
Kokoshin believes that in dealing with the Ajaria problem, “the Muslim
factor and the overall difficult configuration of the international
situation – the worsening situation in Iraq, an upsurge of terrorism
in Uzbekistan and Spain, the signs of growing influence of radical
Islamism in Turkey and a number of other factors – should be taken
into account”. “Attempts to resolve the Ajaria problem by force may
have such consequences for stability in the region that even joint
actions by Russia, the West, Georgia, Armenia and other countries
aimed at normalizing the situation in the region may turn out very
costly indeed,” Andrey Kokoshin stressed.