WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 22, 2008 Friday
SILENCE OF COMMONWEALTH
by Yekaterina Barova
AN UPDATE ON CIS COUNTRIES’ REACTION TO THE RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN CLASH;
Analysis of CIS countries’ reaction to the Russian-Georgian clash.
Belarus
Minsk’s silence in the first days of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict
was bewildering. Russian Ambassador to Minsk, Alexander Surikov, even
called a press conference on the subject. It was only on August 13
that President Alexander Lukashenko cabled his condolences to the
South Ossetian leadership. No such cable was dispatched to Georgia.
Moldova
Moldova backed the European Union and called for a
cease-fire. Kishinev’s official silence is understandable. It has its
own domestic conflict to deal with, export-import wars to fight, and
membership in anti-Russian GUAM with Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Georgia
to mind.
Armenia
Yerevan said in no uncertain terms that it had no intentions to
withdraw from the Commonwealth (in response to Saakashvili’s fiery
speech). Official reaction at the Foreign Ministry level was fairly
moderate and considerate. Armenia said it hoped the involved parties
would concentrate on peaceful settlement.
Azerbaijan
With Ilham Aliyev being away in Beijing when bombs and shells started
raining on Tskhinvali, his political enemies had a field day. These
latter kept screaming bloody murder about "Russian aggressor", "the
Caucasus in jeopardy", and so on. Azerbaijani officials released a
simple statement that reiterated territorial integrity of Georgia but
never said a word about the Russian military operation.
Kazakhstan
President Nursultan Nazarbayev did his best to avoid becoming
committed in any way and said CIS foreign ministers should sort it
out. Meeting with Putin in Beijing, Nazarbayev only said the Georgian
leadership was wrong to have neglected to inform its CIS partners of
its intentions in advance. On its return home, however, he castigated
the "amorphousness" of the Commonwealth.
Kyrgyzstan
It was Kyrgyzstan as CIS chair-in-office that compelled the CIS
Collective Security Treaty Organization to officially condemn Georgia
and its action in the conflict area. A group of Kyrgyz
parliamentarians and political scientists travelled to the conflict
area even before the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization’s
statement, which was apparently a political gesture.
Ukraine
President Victor Yuschenko’s unconditional support of his Georgian
counterpart Saakashvili fomented a rift in the Ukraine. Prime Minister
Yulia Timoshenko was accused of being in a conspiracy with the Kremlin
(the idea was that Timoshenko wouldn’t support Tbilisi in return for
Moscow’s support in the forthcoming presidential election). The Rada
even appealed to the Ukrainian Security Service to keep an eye on the
situation with the issuing of Russian passports to citizens of
Ukraine.
The leaders of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan declined
comment.
Source: Sobesednik, August 20, 2008, p. 5