Russia/Georgia Situation News & Updates

Originally posted by john124
reply to post by pluckynoonez

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Difficult to say, probably the beginning of further tensions.

Georgian Foreign Ministry said on October 13 that Russia’s “utterly false” allegations about Tbilisi aiding Al Qaeda was a cause of “a serious concern”.

Chief of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, claimed on October 13, that the Georgian secret services were assisting “Al Qaeda emissaries” in arranging sending of fighters and arms in Chechnya and Dagestan.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said that this “hysterical campaign” of spreading “absurdity” was an attempt by Moscow “to accuse Georgia of creating the catastrophic situation in the North Caucasus, for which Russia itself is to be blamed.”

“The propaganda noise stirred up by the Kremlin on the normalization and stabilization of the situation [in North Caucasus] has failed to cover up the actually existing disastrous situation in the region, in particular, the fact that the conflict raging in the North Caucasus has entered its most acute stage. The Kremlin is aware that its attempts to bring the situation under control are vain and [by] employing [already] tested Soviet methods [it] tries to disguise its hopelessness by using the factor of external enemy,” the Foreign Ministry said.

It also said that this allegation against Georgia originated in “some fevered brains.”

“To meet its own imperialistic demands, the Kremlin will use any pretext in order to maximally [stir up] tension across the Georgian borders and create a suitable background for carrying out military provocations against the peaceful democratic country,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

Markedonov points out, “Georgia has its own reasons to avoid any friendship with such structures” like Al Qaeda. That group’s agenda would further threaten Georgia’s territorial integrity in the Pankisi Gorge and create new problems for Tbilisi all along Georgia’s northern borders.

Officials in the Georgian capital certainly know “about the slogans of the North Caucasus salafites,” who in addition to being anti-Russian, anti-Western, and anti-Semitic, are also to a certain extent “anti-Georgian.” For all these reasons, linking Georgia to Al Qaeda “seems very problematic.” Without evidence, “it hangs in the air” and resembles “propaganda.”

Still worse, at least from Russia’s perspective, it reflects a continuing tendency “to ascribe [Russia’s] own failures and mistakes” to the actions of shadowy foreign forces: Now, according to some, the US and Israel are directing “terrorism in Ingushetia; now, Georgia “is acquiring the extent of a great super power with a truly powerful spy network.”

What Russia needs “instead of alarmist comments concerning espionage and provocatory actions of Georgia,” Markedonov says, is a willingness to look “at the internal causes for the North Caucasus crisis” and to see that “[Russia’s] own corruption, bribe taking and privatization schemes are much more dangerous than the intrigues of Al Qaeda.”

President Dmitry Medvedev suggested as much in his programmatic article, “Russia, Forward!” Markedonov argues. While suggesting that “crimes” in the North Caucasus are “being committed with the support of international bandit groups,” Russians need to acknowledge that “the situation would not be so sharp” if domestic conditions were better.

Unfortunately, the statement of the FSB director yesterday shows that many officials are unwilling to follow his lead and prefer instead to “make Georgia into some kind of universal” bogey man “to whom it is possible to ascribe everything” and thus avoid taking any responsibility on oneself.

That could prove disastrous, the Moscow analyst suggests, because “both the powers that be and citizens need a serious expert discussion about the problems of the Caucasus, an open and honest exchange of opinions, and not conspiratorial competitions of professional patriots” of the kind now on offer.

Only if Russia faces up to that reality in the North Caucasus now, rather than retreating into the ideological shibboleths of the Soviet past, Markedonov concludes, can the powers that be in Moscow have any chance to cope and thereby “effectively stand up against the threats of the 21st century.”

The United States and Georgia will begin military exercises on October 26 in preparation for sending troops to Afghanistan, a foreign liaison officer in the US embassy in Tbilisi said on Saturday.

The US embassy on Friday said the exercises would begin on October 24.

"The program is specifically designed to enhance Georgia's ability to conduct joint counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan together with US forces," the embassy statement said on Friday.

The two-week joint military exercise, code-named Immediate Response, will be held in Georgia and will include training in counterterrorist operations. US military instructors have already arrived at the Krtsanisi training center.

"We commend Georgia for its voluntary contribution of forces to the critical mission in Afghanistan," the US embassy said.

It was a case of deja vu for the residents of a small town in Georgia when a Hollywood crew turned up to make a film based on last year’s Georgian-Russian war.

Using the same streets and settings, locals not only watched the unfolding drama but actively participated in the story set in the five day conflict.

Russian military intelligence believes Georgia might again attack South Ossetia, the pro-Moscow region over which the two countries fought a war last year, a powerful spy chief said Thursday.

Alexander Shlyakhturov, who in April took over command of the military's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), said the situation was strained and accused NATO countries of continuing to supply arms to Georgia.

"The situation with Georgia remains tense because the current Georgian authorities do not just refuse to recognise the sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but are trying in every way to return these countries...to their jurisdiction," he said in a rare interview with state news agency ITAR-TASS.

"You have to add to this the unpredictability of attempts by the Georgian leadership, headed by (President Mikheil) Saakashvili, which may give in to temptation to use force to tame these obstinate republics as they did last year," he said.

"We do not rule out such a development," said Shlyakhturov, who controls Russia's biggest spy agency with agents across the globe and thousands of special forces troops inside Russia.