NOTHING ABOUT KAZAN
A1+
| 17:11:06 | 31-08-2005 | Politics |
The Prague process which started a year ago has considerably approached
the perspectives of settling the Karabakh conflict”, said the Secretary
General of the EU Terry Davis, Azeri internet site day.az reports.
Mr. Davis also voiced his disappointment about the frequent violation
of the ceasefire and losses of both sides. “Many people on both sides
have lost their life”, he mentioned.
THE FLIP SIDE
by Theresa Freese
WHAT IMPACT WILL THE WITHDRAWAL OF RUSSIAN TROOPS HAVE ON AJARIA?
>>From EurasiaNet.
Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Aug 29 2005
BATUMI, Georgia | As Russia completes the first stage of its base
withdrawal from Georgia, residents of Ajaria are concerned about the
economic implications of the departure of Russian troops.
The parameters for Russia’s withdrawal from its last two remaining
military bases in Georgia were set by a joint declaration singed in
late May. While eager to see the Russian military leave, Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili has acknowledged that the withdrawal
could exacerbate “social issues.”
Government officials recognize that Russia’s withdrawal will have a
broad economic impact on the two regions – Ajaria and the southern,
primarily ethnic Armenian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti – where the
bases are located. New roads, social welfare support and military
food procurement contracts for local farmers have been promised for
Akhalkalaki, site of the Russian 62nd base in Samtskhe-Javakheti,
which is slated to close in 2007. Detailed plans for Batumi, however,
have not been announced. The Russian withdrawal from its 12th base
there is scheduled for completion in 2008.
Kakha Shavadze, minister of finance and economy for the autonomous
republic of Ajaria, said there are “no concrete plans” for replacing
the 12th Russian base in Batumi, aside from turning the nearby Gonio
military training ground – one of three main military facilities in the
region – into a resort after the Russians leave. Asked to comment on
re-employment plans for civilian personnel at the Batumi base, Ajarian
First Deputy Minister for Health, Labor and Social Welfare Nugzar
Surmanidze indicated that planning was still in the early stages.
“Let [Russia] withdraw the bases and we’ll solve the problems with
help from our friends,” Surmanidze said, adding that he did not know
the number of Georgians employed at the base. Surmanidze’s response
suggested that assistance provided by the United States and the
European Union would comprise a vital part of any social-welfare
strategy.
Unanswered questions surround the work prospects for Georgians
employed as military personnel at the Batumi base. As part of their
service, these individuals also hold Russian citizenship. (The Georgian
constitution does not recognize dual citizenship.) In a 31 May speech,
Saakashvili announced that Georgian citizens employed as military
personnel at Russian bases would be eligible to transfer into the
Georgian armed services.
Saakashvili’s broad offer applies to only those “who are residents
of Georgia and who are citizens of Georgia” otherwise, he offers
“guarantees of other employment or social benefits.”
Meanwhile, Russia is actively promoting a job replacement policy for
ethnic Georgian servicemen at the bases, and a visa assistance scheme
for their families. “In principle, they have all been offered to
continue [their] service in the Russian military outside of Georgia,”
Col. Vladimir Kuparadze, deputy commander of Russian troops in the
South Caucasus, said. “We have had discussions with soldiers and
sergeants on contract service, and the vast majority has agreed to go.”
Kuparadze said it was “difficult to say” just how many servicemen
might permanently transfer into the Russian army, but added that
a large number of people want to take [Russian] citizenship. By his
estimates, some 850 ethnic Georgian “civilians and military personnel”
are located at the 12th base in Batumi. Figures are similar for
Akhalkalaki, he stated.
To facilitate that transfer, Kuparadze stated, the Russian embassy
in Tbilisi is considering simplifying procedures for family members
of Georgian service personnel who hold Russian citizenship to obtain
Russian passports. Yevgeni Ivanov, spokesperson for the embassy,
said that Russian law only allows the consulate to issue visas and
residency permits to these individuals.
Discussing a severance package for civilian personnel, Col. Kuparadze
said “Russian citizens” will all receive a two-month salary,
approximately 400 lari ($222), as compensation as well as an apartment
in Russia and a pension upon reaching retirement age.
Representatives of the Georgian Defense Ministry, which is responsible
for the implementation of re-training and employment programs,
declined to comment. A spokesperson for Ministry of Foreign Affairs
said that statements about re-employment schemes could be made only
after the government finalized plans covering the future of the
vacated Russian facilities.
Some officials appear reluctant to try to accommodate the base
workers. Giorgi Charkviani – an Ajarian representative of the office
of the Georgian ombudsman and public defender, who led rallies in fall
2004 calling for Russia’s withdrawal from the Batumi base – suggested
that no formal re-employment program for Georgians working at the 12th
base exists because they have a “pro-Russia psychology,” and because
Russia already “offers them positions, pensions, accommodation,
and high salaries.”
Civilian base employees are readying themselves for a stiff drop in
pay. Monthly salaries for civilians at the 12th base average about 200
laris ($110.60), according to one construction worker at a facility
in Khelvachauri, about 10 kilometers from Batumi. By comparison,
salaries in Ajaria average about 130 laris, or $65, per month,
according to the State Department for Statistics of Georgia.
“People from all over Ajaria work at the [facilities],” said the
worker. “Our main concern is that we are able to take care of our
families.”
Fifteen percent of Ajaria’s population of 400,000 is unemployed, said
Shavadze, the Ajarian finance official, who adds that 59 percent of
the region’s residents live below the poverty line. Those figures,
however, are several percentage points lower than 2004 numbers,
a fact attributed by Shavadze to new construction jobs and an
improving regional economy. Local leaders seem to be aware that the
base withdrawal could add to the existing unemployment problem. “We
are facing serious social problems,” Shavadze said.
Shavadze and other regional officials hope a strategy to develop
tourism in Ajaria could alleviate the economic damage done by
the Russian troops’ departure. “Our main economic direction is
privatization, and our concentration is on tourism – to sell hotels
and tourist centers,” said Shavadze.
The Gonio training ground, which includes a firing range and
approximately 40 hectares of seaside property, will be turned into
a “resort town like Las Vegas,” according to Ajarian Minister of
Tourism Temur Zoidze. President Saakashvili himself has traveled
frequently to Ajaria this summer to promote the region as a tourist
destination. Some 35,000 tourists, mostly Georgian, are estimated to
have visited Ajaria so far in 2005. Roughly 11,000 visited in 2004,
Zoidze said. The numbers for May and June 2005 alone mark a three-fold
increase over the same period in 2004, he claimed.
Some base workers are skeptical that tourism will enable them to make
up for lost revenue following the withdrawal. “You can’t find jobs,
everyone employs their own relatives,” complained one kiosk-owner
in Khelvachauri.
“Tourists won’t reach us,” added the construction worker from
Khelvachauri.
Theresa Freese is a freelance journalist and political analyst who
has been conducting research on unresolved conflicts in the South
Caucasus since 2003. This is a partner-post from EurasiaNet.
CONFERENCE ON ARMENIAN CAUSE TO OPEN BY TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER GUL’S
SPEECH
ISTANBUL, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Ayshe Soysal and Tosun Terzioghlu,
Directors of the Bogazichi and Sabanj Univerisities, approved at the
press-conference that the postponed conference concerning the Armenian
Cause will take place at the Bogazichi University, on September
23-25. According to the “Marmara” daily, the two directors mentioned
that the academicians of the Universities again prepared the note of
the conference. They emphasized that such a conference will be greeted
under the principles of the academic ripeness, without forgetting that
it is not for sure that the University shares the opinion expessed by
academicians which, as a result of academic and scientific searches,
must be shared with opinion of other academic circles and the society.
The two directors secured the opinion that still before the
conference, reports of such an academic conference must not become a
target for positive or negative interpretations for political or other
motives as such interpretations do harm the principle of the
scientific and academic freedom. These ideas are not the official
viewpoint of the Universities and may be committed to various
discussions and criticism within the academic circles. “Huriet” stated
that the opening of the conference envisaged at the Bogazichi
University will be held by a speech of Abdullah Gul, the Minister of
Foreing Affairs of Turkey. The newspaper mentioned that Ayshe Soysal,
the Director of the Bogazichi University, asked Gul on the phone to
make the opening speech of this conference. In respond to a question
of media, the Foreing Minister approved the news saying: “The Director
asked me to make a speech. And I answered that I’ll do with pleasure.
We have no reservation or fear on this theme. Why should we hide our
head in the sand? I said the same during the first conference as
well. Its postponing was in vain. Our society can argue on this theme
very calmly.” Some Turkish circles immediatly started reacting upon
holding of this conference in the way they reacted in the past. The
Coucil of the Public Organizations of Turkey, that spoke against the
conference in May, again made a convictng statement on August 23,
emphasizing that they will make attempts to fail the conference this
time as well. “Our four months ago reaction will continue in the same
way. We should do everything in order that the conference does not
take place. Nobody living in this country can betray Turkey,” the
statement reads.
ON THIS DAY – 26AUG05
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
Advertiser Adelaide, Australia
The Mercury, Australia
Aug 26 2005
1896 – Armenian revolutionaries attack the Ottoman Bank in
Constantinople, provoking a three-day battle in which at least 6000
Armenians die.
55BC – Roman forces under Julius Caesar invade Britain.
580 – It is thought that toilet paper is invented by the Chinese.
1346 – A cannon is used for the first time in a European battle as
Edward III of England defeats Philip VI of France.
1883 – A massive eruption of a volcano on Krakatoa island in the
Sundra Strait between Java and Sumatra continues. The two-day
eruption and associated tidal waves kill some 36,000 people and
destroy two-thirds of the island.
1883 – Cricket’s Ashes trophy is created when a winning England
captain is presented with an urn containing the ashes of a bail from
the 1882-1883 wickets after victory over Australia.
1884 – A patent is granted to German immigrant Ottmar Mergenthaler
for the Linotype machine, which allowed mass production of
newspapers.
1896 – Insurrection begins in the Philippines against the Spanish;
Armenian revolutionaries attack the Ottoman Bank in Constantinople,
provoking a three-day battle in which at least 6000 Armenians die.
1912 – The first Tarzan story by William Rice Burroughs appears in a
US magazine.
1913 – A Russian pilot, Lieutenant Peter Nesterov, is credited with
becoming the first person to perform the loop-the-loop.
1914 – More than 30,000 Russian troops are killed during WWII as they
are out-manoeuvred by German troops at the battle of Tannenberg.
1915 – German army captures Brest-Litovsk in Russia during World War
I.
1920 – The 19th Amendment to the American Constitution is ratified,
giving women the vote.
1930 – Death of US silent movie actor Lon Chaney who became known as
the man of a thousand faces.
1936 – Treaty ends British occupation of Egypt, except Suez Canal
zone, and Britain and Egypt form alliance for 20 years.
1937 – Japan blockades Chinese shipping; the first televised major
league baseball games is shown in the United States, a doubleheader
between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.
1942 – German army reaches Stalingrad in Soviet Union during World
War II.
1945 – Japanese envoys board US battleship Missouri to receive
surrender instructions at the end of World War II.
1947 – The UN Security Council passes a resolution for both the Dutch
and Indonesians to adhere to a ceasefire order.
1952 – Floods caused by monsoon rains inundate 90 per cent of Manila,
causing at least eight deaths. It is Manila’s third flood in a month.
1957 – Soviet Union announces it has successfully tested an
intercontinental ballistic missile.
1959 – Chinese troops cross into India’s north-eastern territory
after a border dispute.
1964 – Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, bans two black nationalist movements;
student and Buddhist riots force resignation of government of Premier
Nguyen Khanh in South Vietnam.
1967 – Andreas Papandreou, former Greek Cabinet minister and son of
ex-premier George Papandreou, is indicted on treason charges and
accused of leading the Aspid (Shield) army conspiracy.
1970 – North Vietnam sends its chief negotiator back to Vietnam peace
talks in Paris after an eight-and-a-half month boycott of
negotiations.
1972 – The summer Olympics games open in Munich, West Germany; Death
of British yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester.
1973 – The Cambodian military reports that Khmer Rouge rebel troops
had severed Phnom Penh’s two vital supply roads – one leading to the
seaport and the other to rice fields.
1974 – Death of US aviator Charles Lindbergh.
1978 – Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice is elected as Pope John Paul
I.
1981 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin wrap up a two-day summit in Alexandria with the return
of the Sinai peninsula to Egypt scheduled for the following April.
1985 – A special French investigator issues a report clearing
France’s Socialist government and the intelligence service of
involvement in the sinking of the Greenpeace protest vessel Rainbow
Warrior in Auckland harbour on July 10.
1988 – Nationwide strike paralyses government and transportation in
Burma and anti-government rallies spread; tens of thousands of civil
rights marchers gather in Washington, DC, on the eve of the 25th
anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
1990 – Number of US soldiers, airmen and sailors in the Gulf reaches
60,000.
1991 – Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev promises new national
elections after the signing of the Union Treaty, but there appears to
be little support for the treaty in the wake of a failed coup
attempt.
1993 – Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and 14 others are charged in the World
Trade Centre attack and New York bombing plot.
1994 – US officials acknowledge that the current session of Congress
won’t pass legislation for universal health insurance coverage, which
US President Bill Clinton made the centrepiece of his legislative
agenda.
1995 – The Communist Party in Russia starts a campaign that calls for
resurrection of the Soviet state that collapsed in 1991.
1996 – Former military strongman Chun Doo-hwan is sentenced to death
after being convicted of mutiny and treason in South Korea. His
successor, Roh Tae-woo, is also found guilty and sentenced to 22½
years in prison. They were pardoned a year later.
1997 – South Africa’s last white president, FW De Klerk, resigns as
head of the National Party and leaves politics.
1998 – A three-week-old rebellion reaches the outskirts of Congo’s
capital Kinshasa, and hundreds of soldiers are wounded and killed.
1999 – Anti-independence militiamen rampage through Dili, the capital
of East Timor, raising doubts about the viability of an upcoming vote
on the Indonesian territory’s future.
2000 – Somalis celebrate the election of Abdiqasim Salad Hassan,
their first president in nearly a decade; in a widely covered visit
to Africa US President Bill Clinton appealed to the leaders of
oil-rich Nigeria to set aside political acrimony and concentrate on
lifting its citizens out of poverty.
2001 – Ethnic Albanians rebels hand over machine-guns, mortar tubes
and other heavy weaponry on first day of a NATO mission to collect
arm’s from Macedonia’s militants.
2002 – US President George W. Bush admits he is worried about the
economy’s “paltry” growth and, without making promises, assures steel
company executives and workers that protecting domestic steel is a
national security priority.
2003 – Rwandan President Paul Kagame is the overwhelming winner of
presidential elections. The election was the first since the 1994
genocide.
2004 – Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,
makes a dramatic return to Najaf and swiftly wins agreement from a
rebel cleric and the government to end three weeks of fighting
between his militia and US-Iraqi forces.
–Boundary_(ID_yTlUOSSvRNjCTntmAJ2rDg)–
DARCHINYAN VICTORY A SHOW OF PURE ‘CLASS’
By Adrian Warren
Sydney
The Age, Australia
August 26, 2005
JEFF Fenech yesterday rated Vic Darchinyan’s ruthless demolition of
challenger Jair Jiminez as the best performance of the world champion
flyweight’s career.
The Fenech camp is also confident Darchinyan’s mandatory defence
against Irishman Damaen Kelly will be held in Australia. Darchinyan’s
manager, Robert Joske, said the IBF had set an October 27 deadline
for the fight with the Belfast-based boxer.
The 29-year-old champion improved his professional record to 24-0
by taking just five rounds to demoralise Colombian Jiminez, the
ninth-ranked contender.
Trainer Fenech, who convinced Darchinyan to relocate to Australia
after representing Armenia at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, described
Wednesday night’s effort from his IBF and IBO champion as perfect.
“He was great … people don’t realise how good his opponent was,
and just how easy he handled him,” Fenech said. “He made the guy do
everything that he wanted. That’s a show of real class.
“I was very worried. I thought it was going to be our toughest fight.
I think it was his best one by far, especially because of the guy
that he fought. He didn’t rush. A lot of times he was behind the jab
and he brought him onto punches instead of doing what he always does.”
Advertisement AdvertisementAfter taking a two-week holiday in Armenia,
Darchinyan will resume training for his fight with Kelly, who has a
21-2 professional record. With the top two spots vacant, third-ranked
Kelly is the highest-ranked contender.
Kelly was the initial choice of opponent for Wednesday night’s fight,
but could not agree to terms with promoter William Takataka. “He
wanted too much money, he wanted more than the champion, so that’s
why we didn’t go ahead with that fight,” Takataka said.
Fenech and Takataka expect the fight will go to a purse bid and each
is confident the contest will take place in Australia. “I don’t think
they’ve got the money to take the fight there, I’m confident of having
it here,” Fenech said.
In Sydney tonight, world-ranked Nedal Hussein fights Australian
light-welterweight champion Mick Shaw for the vacant IBO
Intercontinental super-featherweight title and world-rated
light-heavyweight Jason DeLisle has an IBF Pan Pacific
light-heavyweight title defence against Argentinian Fernando Vera.
Santa Cruz Sentinel, CA
Aug 24 2005
Andy Griffin: Down on the Farm
Have you ever heard of a task being pursued “to the bitter end” and
wondered why the end has to be bitter?
I’m a farmer, not a linguist, but I suspect the end is bitter because
the person who minted that metaphor was chewing on a cucumber.
Cucumbers are mild nowadays, and serve as perfectly innocuous
dip-delivery vehicles, but this was not always the case. In fact, if
you grow an old-fashioned, heirloom cucumber variety in your garden
and allow it to become stressed by heat and drought you may still
taste “the bitter end”.
For the tender, juicy cucumber bitterness is a successful
evolutionary trait. The arid mountains of northern India are the
ancestral home of the domesticated cucumber and wild species still
grow there.
A cucumber is about 98 percent water. When a ripe cucumber fruit
decomposes on the ground, the moisture that’s released from the
rotting tissue can be enough to sprout the cucumber’s seeds and
maintain the infant seedlings until a rainstorm.
But in a hot, dry environment, a succulent cucumber would look pretty
inviting to a thirsty rodents and humans. So wild cucumbers protected
themselves from predation by evolving a spiny skin, and by suffusing
their moist flesh with bitter flavors.
Many modern varieties of cucumber still sport reduced, vestigial
spines, at least while their fruits are juvenile, but agronomists
have bred out almost all of the bitterness from the domesticated
cultivars.
I say “almost” because the growing tip at the end of the cucumber,
the bitter end, has been the last part of the cucumber to get tamed.
Soon, thanks to all the advances being made in crop science, a
cliched phrase may be all that’s left of the cucumber’s original wild
flavor.
For the well-grown domestic cucumber, at least, the end is always
crunchy, wet and mild.
It’s hot now, which means cucumbers are sweet and happy as long as
they’re not thirsty. When we’re out in the fields picking cukes, we
keep an eye out for snakes. I’m sure we’ll find a ton of snakes in
our fields this week because we’re harvesting snake melons.
The snake melon is long and slender like a snake. Some snake melons
even curl, as though they are about to strike. But don’t fear; they
will calmly allow themselves to be sliced into coins and slathered
with yogurt and dill for a snack which is as cool as a cucumber.
In fact, even though it’s a bit of a botanical lie, most growers
prefer to label snake melons as “Armenian cucumbers” when they sell
them.
It’s no lie that Armenian cucumbers came from Armenia; they were
introduced into Italy from Armenia in the 1400s, it’s just that
they’re not cucumbers.
Armenian cucumbers are melons, snake melons, or Cucumis melo, like
the cantaloupe, not Cucumis sativus, like a true cucumber.
If you plant a handsome Armenian cucumber next to a lovely Lebanese
cucumber in a soft fluffy bed at the corner of your garden, they
won’t promiscuously tickle each others’ stigmas and stamens to any
great consequence. No melumbers or cukelons can sprout out of wedlock
because the facts of botany decree against it.
None of these facts about botanical nomenclature will make any
difference to consumers once they taste the snake melons.
These vegetable serpents are as crunchy and versatile as regular
cucumbers even when their fruits get big. Mature Armenian cucumbers
may reach several feet in length, but their flesh remains as tender,
moist and edible.
Snake melons make great salads, and you can even slip them into the
next English cucumber sandwich you serve the Queen for tea. She’d
never notice. But can’t you see the bold type and scandalous
headlines in the British tabloids if the news leaked out that the
Queen ate an Armenian cucumber at your house?
They would scream: “Elizabeth Regina Ate A Snake And Smiled!”
At least it wouldn’t be a story with a bitter end.
Kazinform, Kazakhstan
Aug 24 2005
BTA to open its affiliates in Armenia and Georgia
ALMATY. August 24. KAZINFORM. /Zhan Buldekbayev/ Kazakhstan Bank
TuranAlem has opened its affiliates in Yerevan (Armenia) and Tbilisi
(Georgia) early this week, Kazinform refers to the bank’s press
service.
The aim of the official representations of Bank TuranAlem JSC (BTA)
in Armenia and Georgia is to provide qualitative banking services, to
contribute to development of business ties of the states, to monitor
advance of the national financial services market of the states and
search for ways of BTA business extension.
Opening of BTA affiliates in Armenia and Georgia is a part of
strategy `One bank, one account, the entire CIS’ envisaging
initiation of the bank network -strategic partners of BTA.
Darchinyan retains IBF, IBO flyweight titles
AP Worldstream; Aug 24, 2005
Armenian-born Australian Vic Darchinyan retained his International
Boxing Federation flyweight title with a fifth-round technical
knockout Wednesday over Colombia’s Jair Jiminez at the Sydney
Entertainment Center.
The 29-year-old Darchinyan, who also retained the International Boxing
Organization title in the same class with the win, moved to 24-0,
including 19 by knockout. Jiminez, who weighed in at 50.55 kilograms
(111 pounds), dropped to 22-5-1 along with 16 knockouts.
Darchinyan, 50.8 kilograms (112 pounds), was making his second defense
of the world title he won from another Colombian, Irene Pacheco, in
Florida last December.
Darchinyan consistently hit Jiminez with stinging straight left
punches to the head.
Jiminez, 26, was under constant pressure in the fourth round when
Darchinyan sent the South American to the canvas in the first 20
seconds with a volley of at least five blows. Sensing an early finish,
Darchinyan pummeled Jiminez for the remainder of the round.
At the time of the stoppage, Darchinyan led by five points on two of
the judges’ cards and six points on the other.
“He’s a tough guy, he took a lot of punches,” Darchinyan said.
Darchinyan restored some pride to Australian boxing with the win in
the scheduled 12-rounder.
Since Darchinyan’s first successful title defense against South
African Mzukisi Sikali in March, Anthony Mundine, Paul Briggs, Kostya
Tszyu and Tommy Browne have all lost, leaving Australians with a 2-6
record this year before Wednesday’s title fight.
ARKA News Agency
Aug 23 2005
VIVACELL COMPANY PROVIDES MOBILE COMMUNICATION SERVICES IN VARDENIS
(GEGHARKUNIK REGION, ARMENIA)
YEREVAN, August 23. /ARKA/. The VivaCell Company provides mobile
communication services in Vardenis (Gegharkunik region, Armenia),
VivaCell Company reported ARKA News Agency. The Company states that
it realizes the necessity to provide mobile communication service of
high quality in remote regions of Armenia, and Vardenis was deprived
of such communication for a long time.
During his visit to Gavar (regional center of Gegharkunik) Executive
Director of VivaCell Ralf Yirikyan stated that the Company started
work in Gegharkunik region and it will try to cover the entire
territory of this region with mobile communication by the end of
September, 2005. He said that the Company will cover all territory of
Armenia with mobile communication of high quality by the end of
October, 2005.
Currently the mobile communication of VivaCell Company covers the
territory of Yerevan, Armavir, Ararat and partially Gegharkunik
regions of Armenia.
The “K-Telecom” Company with VivaCell trade mark entered the Armenian
market of mobile communication on July 1, 2005 and become the second
mobile communication operator in Armenia. The Company shares the
Armenian market with “ArmenTel” Telecommunication Company, which was
a monopolist on the Armenian market of mobile communication since
1997. A.A. -0–
Kommersant, Russia
Aug 24 2005
The “Color” Democracies are Left in the Cold
// Russia sets priorities for the CIS members
Yesterday, the session of the foreign ministers council of the
Confederation of Independent States (CIS) took place in Moscow. This
session was called in before the opening of the Confederation Summit,
which will start its work in Kazan on Friday. This session, as well
as the summit, according to the Kremlin design, should become a
turning point for CIS. The former Soviet republics learned that those
who would want to stay within the orbit of Russian influence would
keep all their economic privileges, including the opportunity to buy
energy resources for low prices. However, for the countries that
prefer to lean closer to the West, it was proposed to calculate the
consequences of their orientation.
The new Kremlin line toward the CIS was born as a result of the
analysis of the outcomes of “color” revolutions. Moscow realized that
the countries within the Confederation went so far apart that the
organization will be doomed to exist. The bright illustration of such
mood in Moscow was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement in
March in Yerevan during his joint press conference with Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan. Putin called CIS “a kind of civilized
divorce” of former Soviet republics. “The main goal of CIS was to
part softly after the USSR dismantling,” the Russian President said
in that time. Kremlin does not want to speed up this “parting,” but
it thinks that the Confederation split for two camps – pro-Russian
and pro-Western and needs to be reformed. And, according to the
Kremlin’s analysts, those countries that keep their Russian
orientation need to be protected from the West.
According to their evaluation, the West effectively changed
leadership in Georgia and Ukraine, and also pulled to the Western
side Moldavian President Vladimir Voronin. And the West does not
intend to stop there. It will try to develop its success pulling the
countries out of the Russian zone of influence one after another. The
Kremlin worries that the next victims of the “color” revolutions
inspired by the West would be Kazakhstan and Byelorussia, where
elections are coming soon. Another weak link is Uzbekistan. According
to Kommersant’s information, the “siloviki” in
Russian leadership insist that the final goal of the West is to
change the regime in Russia. According to them, the West would be
using the North caucus as “a source of instability and disintegration
of the Russian Federation.” To protect Russia from such a scenario,
the Kremlin decided to make a drastic turn in Moscow’s policy towards
CIS countries. The idea of the plan is to turn the economic influence
of Russia in post-Soviet space into the political influence.
Yesterday, a high ranking source in the Kremlin directly said to the
correspondent of the RIA “Novosti” that Moscow intends to drastically
change its policy to the CIS countries. Russia does not want to
“re-establish the Soviet Empire,” he said. However, the source said
that “Russia is not happy with the situation where it in fact
subsidizes the economy of several countries, supplying them the
energy resources for the prices that mean net loss for the Russian
economy. In the same time, some leaders also get paid salaries
directly or covertly from Americans.” (It is a clear hint for the
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.) The Kremlin source let
clearly be understood that the threat to stop the “subsidies of the
economics of regimes unfriendly to Russia” is not blackmail. “The
goal is to bring the relationship of Moscow with Washington and
European structures on the territory of former USSR to a civilized
manner,” he noted. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov further
developed this idea yesterday in the session of the ministers. He
underlined that it is time for the CIS countries to build their
relationship “based on the world practice.” In translation from the
diplomatic language, it means that several countries have to get
ready for Russia to gradually cancel all their economic and other
privileges, which they are still enjoying.
The agenda of yesterday’s session and coming summit was discussed in
advance through diplomatic channels. And the Russian intentions
caused a lot of worries in some capitals. It was not accidental that
the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Boris Tarasyuk was trying
to “dissolve” a little bit of the main agenda of both forums, when he
proposed to discuss issues of re-admission, borders demarcation,
creation of transport corridors for the energy resources, free trade
zones and measures of social protection for CIS citizens. However,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation rejected
the Ukrainian minister’s proposal on the grounds that the proposal
was submitted two weeks before the session and there is not enough
time to analyze that. Georgia also expressed some displeasure and
said that “it will participate only in discussion of some questions
and signing only some agreements.” In yesterday’s session Georgia was
represented by Deputy Foreign Minister, as well as some other
countries including Ukraine and Kazakhstan. In any case it was a
preliminary session. The main decisions would be made in Kazan.
Speaking about the results of yesterday’s session, Sergey Lavrov let
it be understood that there was no consensus of opinion reached on
the forum. According to him, Russia’s proposals to reform CIS “are
known for long time already, however nobody is talking in this case
about some collective decision product.” However, “nobody is totally
happy with what we have today.”
by Pavel Belov