GEORGIA FREES ACCUSED SPIES, BUT FEUD WITH MOSCOW CONTINUES
Diana Petriashvili
EurasiaNet, NY
Oct 2 2006
In a surprise move, Georgia on October 2 released four Russian
officers arrested for espionage, and agreed to the inclusion of Russian
peacekeepers in international monitoring of the Kodori Gorge, a strip
of Georgian-controlled territory in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.
Despite earlier contrary statements by Russian military officials,
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also confirmed that Russia’s
troop withdrawal from Georgia will continue as planned. Nonetheless,
Moscow’s response to the arrests does not promise to soften. The
Kremlin has announced the suspension of all transportation and postal
ties with Georgia, while the Russian Duma has announced plans to stop
money transfers "to certain countries."
In a televised ceremony late in the afternoon on October 2 at the
General Prosecutor’s Office, Georgia handed over the four Russian
officers recently arrested on espionage charges to the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The officers, escorted
by police, were transported in OSCE cars to Tbilisi’s airport,
where a plane from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations
flew them to Moscow. The decision to hand the officers over occurred
after talks between Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Karel De Gucht, who flew to Tbilisi on October 2
to discuss the spy crisis with the Georgian leader.
Commenting on the decision to reporters, President Saakashvili stressed
that the handover represented "a good gesture towards Georgia’s Western
friends," but not a reaction to perceived Russian threats. According
to the president, the Georgian side has also handed over to the OSCE
evidence in its case against the arrested officers.
Four Russian officers and 11 Georgian citizens were arrested on
September 27 and charged with espionage. On September 29, the Tbilisi
City Court ordered the officers to remain in pre-trial detention. The
Georgian prisoners remain in custody. A greatly reduced police presence
was continuing in front of the Russian military headquarters, where
the Georgian government alleges a fifth espionage suspect is hiding.
What the handover means for this officer remains unclear. A
representative of the Georgian Interior Ministry’s press office
stated that the government believes that the officer, identified as
Lt Col. Konstantin Pichugin, is still on Georgian territory, but did
not choose to make an official statement "because of the handover of
the spies to the OSCE." Russian officials have denied the government’s
claims, and have stated that Pichugin is in "a safe location."
Prior to the release, the Russian Ministry of Transportation stated
that it had stopped all air, rail, car, and sea traffic with Georgia.
According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, the ministry also
announced on October 2 that postal communications between Russia and
Georgia would be suspended.
Meanwhile, in the Duma, proposed amendments to existing legislation
would end all money transfers "to certain countries" in emergency
situations. "The Duma must react to this situation," Duma Speaker Boris
Gryzlov said, RIA Novosti reported. He added that "$350 million was
officially sent [by Georgian labor migrants] from Russia; according
to non-official data, this amount amounts to over $1 billion." A vote
is expected on October 4.
The thousands of Georgians who work in Russia as seasonal laborers
could also come under scrutiny. Thirteen Georgian citizens, including
children, have been arrested in Moscow for allegedly working illegally
in Russia, Rustavi-2 reported Georgian Consul in Moscow Zurab Pataradze
as saying. The Georgian Embassy in Moscow has reported that deportation
proceedings against the 13 detainees are in progress.
Georgian politicians reacted to the news of Russia’s transportation and
postal services ban as fresh proof of a Russian strategy to pressure
Georgia into letting Moscow have its own way.
"By acting this way, Russia intends to make Georgia do what Russia
wants," David Kirkitadze, a parliamentarian from the ruling National
Movement Party, stated at a news briefing. "Russia wants us to refuse
to restore Georgia’s territorial integrity," he said in reference
to the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia which the
Saakashvili administration wants to recover.
One key concession, however, appears to have been made by Tbilisi
with the announcement of the government’s decision to no longer
oppose the inclusion of Russian peacekeepers among an international
peacekeeping contingent that would monitor the situation in the
Kodori Gorge. Late on October 2, the office of Georgia’s State
Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues released a statement that
said that Tbilisi had agreed to accept Russian peacekeepers as part
of any international peacekeeping force, after "taking into account
the opinions of the international community and the parties involved,"
English-language excerpts published on the Civil Georgia news bulletin
site read. Responses from Moscow and the de facto Abkhazian leadership
have not yet been made public.
Throughout the crisis, the issue of Georgia’s relations with the
breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia has continued to
simmer. On October 2, both Sergei Bagapsh, the de facto president of
Abkhazia, and de facto South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity announced
that they would withdraw from peace talks with the Georgians. The press
service of the de-facto Abkhazian leader issued a statement saying that
the Georgian side is violating existing peace agreements by keeping
troops in the Kodori Gorge, while South Ossetia’s Eduard Kokoity
claimed that Georgia has not responded to South Ossetian proposals
to hold peace talks in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali,
RIA Novosti reported.
Both Bagapsh and Kokoity took part on September 29 in a round table
discussion on economic development in southern Russia chaired by
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met separately with Bagapsh to
discuss the conflict with Georgia over Abkhazia, news reports stated.
The Russian president’s official website listed both de-facto leaders
as the "presidents" of states neighboring Russia.
In response to the meeting, the Georgian Foreign Ministry issued a
statement that argued that Russia had shown "once again" that it "is
not and cannot be an unbiased and impartial mediator in the process of
settlement of conflicts in Georgia. This once again confirms the need
for an immediate change in the existing formats of the negotiating
process and the peacekeeping operation."
Meanwhile, Russian officials maintain that their security concerns
continue. On September 30, the Russian embassy evacuated all remaining
staff and their families from Tbilisi except for two diplomats and
a security guard detail.
The commander of Russian troops in Georgia, Andrei Popov, also
announced on October 1 that special buses would be used to transport
the children of Russian servicemen in Georgia to school to prevent
the students’ arrest as spies. "Of course. Why not? They certainly
could," Popov told Georgian Public Television when asked to confirm
his worry that Georgian law enforcement would arrest the children.
In keeping with that tact, Russian President Vladimir Putin has
accused Georgia of using Stalinist techniques in its arrest of the
four officers for espionage, describing the act as "state terrorism
with hostage-taking."
"It is a sign of the heritage of Lavrenti Pavlovich Beria [a notorious
ethnic Georgian chief of the Soviet secret police under Joseph
Stalin] both inside of the country and in the international arena,"
Putin said in an October 1 meeting with the Russian Security Council,
Russian news agencies reported.
"It is absolutely clear that there are attempts to pinch Russia
as painfully as possible, to provoke it. This should be obvious
to everyone," Putin continued in reference to the spy dispute with
Georgia. "These people think that they can feel comfortable and secure
under the roof of their foreign sponsors."
In an apparent attempt to show that Moscow cannot be provoked,
Putin also stated that the troop withdrawal from Russian bases
in the Georgian towns of Akhalkalaki, Batumi and Russian forces’
headquarters in Tbilisi would continue. On Saturday, September 20,
the Russian commander for the North Caucasus, General Alexander
Baranov, had announced that the withdrawal would be suspended. All
three military installations were also placed on high alert, according
to Russian news agencies.
Responding to Putin’s charges, President Saakashvili argued that the
Russian leader had overreacted.
"I don’t think this is serious… It is an overreaction caused
by nervousness that they have created by themselves," Rustavi-2
television reported Saakashvili as telling foreign journalists in the
Black Sea port city of Batumi. "They have become hostages of their
own propaganda," Georgian president commented.
"Some people could consider our action as something that has been
coordinated by Washington. This is not true. The US State Department
made it very clear that this is a bilateral issue between Georgia
and Russia," Saakashvili added. The Russian presidential press office
issued a statement on October 2 that Putin had discussed the situation
in Georgia with US President George W. Bush.
To many in the Georgian capital, problems with the Russian troops’
pull-out had looked like one of the possible consequences of this
crisis. Now, however, attention is focusing in other directions.
At a September 30 news conference, Georgian Fuel and Energy Minister
Nika Gelauri downplayed the possibility that Moscow would cut off
electricity and gas supplies to Georgia, as some Russian politicians
have urged the government to do. The minister told media that Georgia
is ready to import power from Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran,
the Georgian television station Imedi reported.
"We will be able to import at least 50 megawatts of electricity from
Armenia," Gelauri said referring to a recent meeting in Yerevan
where Georgian, Armenian and Iranian energy ministry officials
participated. "We will continue talks to increase this amount."
Gelauri added that in case of necessity Georgia will import 100
megawatts of power from Turkey. Azerbaijan, he told reporters, has
reportedly agreed to supply Georgia with 300 million cubic meters of
gas this year, a fivefold increase from initially planned amounts.
Little can be done to prepare for other events, however. A
demonstration by 20 Russian youths outside the Georgian embassy in
Moscow continued on Monday, with participants expressing support
for the arrested Russian officers and carrying banners condemning
the Saakashvili administration. On September 30, Russian television
showed footage of a man darting out of the embassy to give a kick in
the seat to one of the demonstrators being restrained by police. The
footage has prompted strong protests from Russian media commentators
and pundits, but has elicited no public response yet from Tbilisi.
Editor’s Note: Diana Petriashvili is a freelance reporter based
in Tbilisi.