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SITUATION IN THE CONFLICT ZONES IN ABKHAZIA, SOUTH OSSETIA AND TRANSNISTRIA
VALERY KENYAIKIN,
Special representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia on the relations with the CIS countries, ambassador at large, Moscow
Today the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts are in the focus of the mass media. Recently the meeting of the UN Security Council has been held when the issue on the conflicts was submitted for consideration at Georgia’s request. This issue became extremely hot due to the aircraft incident in Abkhazia. Georgia groundlessly accused Russia of shooting down the aircraft.
Georgia’s government including President Mikheil Saakashvili intended to put a spin on the event. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeks to gain the support of the West.
The parliamentary elections will be held in Georgia soon. That’s why an “external enemy” is being looked for to mobilize the country’s public opinion.
At the same time, Saakashvili says that Georgia will make no move that could break the peace in the conflict zone. The riling class’ political fate is at stake. Given the current situation, even the authorities do not scruple to use any means.
A lot of Georgian mass media say that Russia has worked out the scenarios of military operations. This is not true. In the conflict zone there are our peacemakers who have not reached the limit of their presence of 3000 people yet, and less than 2500 people are there. The issue of increase of our military peacemaking presence may be discussed only within the framework of the agreements concerning the military conflict zone.
I would remind you that in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone the Russian peacemaking presence has not reached the agreed level either. There should be an extra 300-strong reserve (paratroopers).
The peacemakers’ task is to avert efforts to deteriorate the situation, which is conducive to new hostilities. Unfortunately, the Georgian party is building up its military presence. Almost every day the military equipment is supplied, in particular by Turkey. We have the information that in the West of Georgia, near the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, the military subunits, which can implement military operations in Abkhazia, are being concentrated and redeployed.
Several times, during the last two weeks, the military subunits of some formations were placed on high (and sometimes full) alert. Some of them continue to be on high alert. That means that within six hours they must be able to leave their redeployment camps.
Inevitably, we have to be concerned about it, so we focus our attention on the facts. We would like to believe the peaceful statements made by Saakashvili. But we cannot trust him fully.
We told our CIS partners about Russia’s decisions to improve the relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the commissions given to the government about lifting the restrictions on the relations with Abkhazia. Our decisions are under consideration.
The Ukrainians have made a statement at the level of the Foreign Ministry denouncing our actions towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
As to Transnistria, the situation is different there. It is possible to settle the conflict. We focus on making the conflict parties get into direct contacts with each other so that they could develop the major parameters or an agenda of the future agreements that will be then worked out by a broader “5+2” format (Russia and Ukraine as co-presidents, the USA and the EU as observers, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), Moldova and Transnistria).
Recently, President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin has met President of Transnistria Igor Smirnov. The parties decided to maintain relations with each other subsequently. The negotiations are making difficult progress. The meeting between the Transnistrian and Moldovan Foreign Ministers was held with the participation of the OSCE in the Ukrainian city of Odessa. It is expected that some agreements will be reached. We have no hidden plans. We ask our “5+2” format partners to help the parties achieve at least preliminary working agreements.
Unfortunately, the negotiations on Georgia’s conflicts have been marking time, above all, through Georgia’s fault. Coming to power Saakashvili advanced a good idea of the three-stage settlement of the conflicts. The first stage would include providing trust and security. The second stage – economic security. The third one – discussion of the status issues.
But after Georgian Premier Zurab Zhvania had died, Saakashvili proposed solving all the problems during three years. The scheme was quite different. In the autumn of 2005 the new Prime Minister stated that the South Ossetian conflict should be settled for a year. The position has been toughened. The moment the Ossetian party considered Georgia’s request, the Georgian party toughened its position. As a result, the situation has reached a deadlock.
The Georgian party does not want the problem to be solved through the talks. It wants, while relying on its patrons, to solve this problem only on the terms acceptable to their political class existing only between the elections. Georgia’s position is clear to a sensible analyst. But why do our Western partners yield to those provocations so easily? This is causing us great concern.
We do our utmost to avert war in Abkhazia. But if a military conflict is unleashed, we will have to react to it by using force. If civilians suffer, it will be necessary to protect them. We are not against Georgia’s territorial integrity. We would like the territorial integrity to be observed. With that end negotiations should be carried on. We are urging the parties to hold the negotiations.
The material is based on Valery Kenyaikin’s address to the press conference in Russian News and Information Agency RIA Novosti on April 25, 2008.
April 30, 2008
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