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26Aug08
Russia defies west by recognising Georgian rebel regions
Russia has stepped up its defiance of the west by recognising the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's two breakaway provinces.
Less than three weeks after Russia and Georgia went to war over South Ossetia, Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, said in a televised announcement: "I have signed decrees on the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of South Ossetia and the independence of Abkhazia."
Georgia condemned Medvedev's declaration. "This is an unconcealed annexation of these territories, which are a part of Georgia," said Giga Bokeria, the deputy foreign minister.
Western leaders followed suit, with some of the strongest language coming from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who called it "absolutely unacceptable" but called for dialogue to be maintained with Russia. The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said Russia's move was regrettable. She said Abkhazia and South Ossetia were part of Georgia "and it will remain so".
The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, said Russian recognition of Georgia's breakaway regions was "unjustifiable and unacceptable". A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We reject this categorically and reaffirm Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is contrary to obligations that Russia has repeatedly taken on in [UN] security council resolutions. It does nothing to improve the prospects for peace in the Caucasus."
France, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, reiterated its commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity. It has called a meeting of EU leaders to discuss the crisis next Monday.
There was jubilation in Abkhazia where people fired into the air, opened bottles of champagne and wept with joy. In Sukhumi, Abkhazia's capital on the Black Sea coast, office workers spilled into the streets moments after Medvedev made his announcement.
"We feel happy. We all have tears in our eyes. We feel pride for our people," Aida Gubaz, a 38-year-old lawyer, told Reuters. "Everything we went through, now we are getting our reward."
There were similar scenes in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, where a Reuters photographer heard celebratory gunfire on the city's outskirts.
Both houses of Russia's parliament yesterday unanimously adopted resolutions urging Medvedev to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but the Russian government had been expected to move more cautiously. Some analysts thought Russia's preferred scenario was for the two provinces to eventually win Kosovo-style acceptance, rather than face an unresolved status like Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.
George Bush, the US president, yesterday expressed his deep concern at the parliamentary votes and urged the Russian government not to recognise the regions. The two provinces rebelled against Georgian rule after the collapse of the Soviet Union and have had de facto independence since the early 1990s.
Russia's envoy to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, compared the tension between Russia and the west to the eve of the first world war, saying a new freeze in relations was inevitable.
"The current atmosphere reminds me of the situation in Europe in 1914 ... when because of one terrorist, leading world powers clashed," Rogozin told the RBK Daily business newspaper. "I hope Mikheil Saakashvili [the president of Georgia] will not go down in history as a new Gavrilo Princip." He was referring to the assassin of the Austro-Hungarian archduke Franz Ferdinand.
The influential daily Kommersant ran as its front page headline "Russia's leaders quarrel with the west". Below was a photo of Medvedev taking aim with a Kalashnikov gun during a visit to a weapons factory this year.
Two US warships are due to deliver humanitarian supplies tomorrow to the Georgian port of Poti, where hundreds of Russian troops are manning checkpoints in so-called security zones.
"At the request of the Georgian government, these ships will be delivering humanitarian aid to Poti," a spokesman for the US embassy said today. "The USS McFaul and another US ship will dock in Poti on Wednesday."
In another show of support for Georgia, the White House announced that Dick Cheney, the US vice-president and a critic of Russia, would visit Georgia next week as part of a trip to former Soviet states seeking closer links with the west.
Tension remains high in Poti on the Black Sea coast as Russia has left many troops in place despite withdrawals from most of Georgia last week. Russian media reported that the guided missile cruiser Moskva, flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, put to sea again from its Crimean base for what the navy described as a routine training exercise to test weapons and onboard systems.
Russia has pulled back most of its forces from Georgia proper but has angered the west by keeping troops in a large buffer zone around the two rebel regions, saying they are required as peacekeepers. The west says the size of the buffer zones violates the terms of a French-brokered ceasefire and has called on Russia to withdraw without delay.
Georgian and Russian forces have been locked in a standoff in the village of Mosabruni near the edge of South Ossetia, about 30 miles north-west of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
"We are afraid our children will be killed," said a Georgian villager, Iza Mikhanishvili, 31. "There are Georgian forces on one side, Ossetians on the other. Yes, they are peacekeepers, but we are afraid every single night that something will happen. The only thing we want is peace. I don't care who we are with."
[Source: The Guardian, London, Uk, 26Aug08]
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