The Messenger, Georgia (messenger.com.ge)
Sept 28 2004
Russian “party of war” threatens Georgia
But Tbilisi MP believes Georgian-Russian relations can improve
“He is the president of Russia and must see that it is not good to
have Georgia as an enemy. Putin must understand that it is better to
be a friend of Georgia”
By Anna Arzanova
In a recent interview with Russian informational agency Regnum,
National Movement-Democrats MP Kote Gabashvili said that Georgia’s
conflict zones were the main reason for the current strain in
Georgian-Russian relations, along with the influence in Moscow of
what he described as a “party of war.”
However, the MP stated that he is hopeful for better relations in the
future, and argued that the recent autocratic measures taken in
Russia by President Vladimir Putin might have the paradoxical effect
of improving relations.
Asked if it is possible to call the tense Georgian-Russian relations
a ‘cold war,’ Gabashvili, who is also the head of the parliamentary
committee on foreign relations, stated that he would not use such
term, although he acknowledges that even though “both sides publicly
speak of their friendship and cooperation, relations are really very
aggravated.”
Gabashvili considers that such a state of affairs was never the goal
of the Georgian side, nor was it the result of Georgia’s actions. He
regretted that the general situation in Russia influences not only
the political establishment but also the executive and legislative
authority, stimulating only negative policies.
Gabashvili is in no doubt what are the stumbling blocks in
Georgian-Russian relations. First of all are South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, and secondly he names “certain political circles in Russia
which think that an impaired and broken Georgia is a better neighbor
than a united and friendly country.”
“Russia has chosen to support local separatists in Abkhazia and
Tskhinvali,” Gabashvili says. “This is a real process, the aim of
which is to manipulate these conflict zones in order to force Georgia
to become the obedient vassal of Moscow.”
“This is what causes the deep arguments and opposition between the
countries,” Gabashvili says, adding that Adjara, South Ossetia and
Abkhazia are “wounds of Georgia, one of which [Adjara] the government
has been able to heal.”
When asked who plays the key role in Georgian-Russian relations in
Moscow, Gabashvili said that according to the opinion of Russian
analysts, there is a “party of war, which like an octopus tries to
seize everything.”
“I think that this party of war is winning many issues at the present
time. The Russian establishment is not ready to give concrete and
distinct answers. Politics there are being developed now according to
the line of strengthening the influence of different groups. There is
no clear politics inside Russia,” he says.
As for Georgia’s policies towards Russia, Gabashvili said that this
is much less complicated. “This is the wish of the new, young,
energetic president, who came to power and said that one of the
country’s most important priorities is Russia and ‘I extend the hand
of friendship to Russia.'”
Gabashvili declares his full support for the president’s policy of
building closer ties with Russia. “Cooperation is the only way out of
the this situation. We only want to be a normal, independent
country,” he says.
Furthermore, despite the recent tension between the two countries,
Gabashvili remains hopeful that Georgian-Russian relations will
improve in the future. “Georgia is ready to take serious steps to
improve and normalize relations.”
Gabashvili even believes that the autocratic measures taken by Putin
after the Beslan tragedy, which have been criticized as
anti-democratic, could help Tbilisi-Moscow relations. In Gabashvili’s
opinion, this is double moment – a possible problem as well as a
possible guarantee.
Gabashvili thinks that sometimes there are paradoxical situations,
when a decrease of democracy can lead to improved international
relations. Such a paradox has taken place before in the history of
politics, he says, and he does not rule out the possibility that the
same thing may happen in Moscow.
Nevertheless, Gabashvili is critical of Russia’s foreign policy,
attacking high-ranking officials in Moscow for “making every effort
to prove that Russia has its own way of development and its own form
of democracy.”
In its policy towards Georgia, Gabashvili complains of Russian double
standards. Moscow “asks every country to be its partner in fighting
against separatism and terrorism in its ‘home’, but at the same time
supports terrorism in neighboring Georgia.”
Gabashvili denies all suggestions that there might be some Georgian
connection with the Beslan tragedy, and responds to Russian Chief of
General Staff General Yuri Baluevsky’s statement that Russia
possessed information of terrorists bases outside its borders and was
prepared to carry out pre-emptive strikes against them by advising
him to carry out pre-emptive strikes on Chechen terrorists Akhmed
Zakaev in London and Movladi Udugov in Washington.
Georgian and Russian separatists are not the only barrier to improved
relations, however, and Gabashvili states unambiguously that Russian
military bases in Georgia must be withdrawn adding that “everyone is
fed up of them, because they do nothing good and important.”
For relations to improve, however, what is most important is that the
“party of war” in Moscow cease to hold sway. “Putin is in the end not
just the hostage of Baburin, Zhirinovsky and Markelov. He is the
president of Russia and must see that it is not good to have Georgia
as an enemy. Putin must understand that it is better to be a friend
of Georgia,” Gabashvili states, adding that relations between the two
neighbors should involve love and friendship, not force, and that
Georgia is ready to respond in the same manner.
Although he is hopeful that relations will improve, Gabashvili
believes that this may require the intervention of a third party, who
“will take it upon themselves to settle this vengeful mood.”
He does not expect, though, that either of Georgia’s South Caucasus
neighbors Armenia or Azerbaijan could play this role in
Georgian-Russian relations, because they have their own big problem
of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Gabashvili adds, though, that “the Armenians are our allies,” and
that “Azerbaijan and Georgia have serious mutual strategic interests
and that their relations are on the right track.”
Georgia, which is home to both Armenians and Azeris, should play a
role in helping these two neighbors to overcome their differences, he
says. “We will give the utmost encouragement to the elimination of
conflict among our neighbors.”