Tbilisi again blames on Moscow for preparation of a wide-scale military operation against Georgia. This time, this allegation was made under a pretext that Russia deployed a unit of military railway engineers in Abkhazia to restore railway traffic in the Republic between Sukhumi and Ochamchira. A unit of 400 servicemen has to repair a rail track of 54 km long, one tunnel, two large bridges , 44 small and medium road crossings and install 50 contact-line masts within 2-3 months.
Despite it is a purely peaceful and humanitarian action, Tbilisi nevertheless made lots of accusations against Russia. Deputy Foreign Minister G. Vashadze claimed that “Georgia will appeal to the world community that it would take adequate measures to prevent Russian intervention”.
To emphasize “the guilt of Russia” this community was reminded about “also those major problems that lately have led the relations between the two countries to the crisis”. They included the Georgian UFV allegedly shot down by a Russian fighter over Abkhazia, establishment of direct ties between Russia and Abkhazia and South Ossetia and introduction of additional Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia without approval of Georgia to increase their strength to the level specified in the respective agreement.
And “the world community” wasn’t a long time coming. On June 3, the US Senate unanimously approved a resolution condemning the recent actions of Russia with respect to unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, The Senators pointed out that the intentions of Russia to establish “official ties” with the rebel republics infringe the sovereignty of Georgia, hamper resolution of the conflicts and discredit the peacekeeping status of the Russian side. The resolution urges Russia to revise its policy towards the unrecognized republics. In the opinion of the Senators, the steps of Russia look like it wants to annex these territories.
Besides, a statement of three American Senators was published in Washington that the world community should re-examine an issue on replacement of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in the zones of Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts. Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. emphasized: “It’s time for the international community to re-examine the composition of the peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia is not a neutral party or an honest broker in this arrangement – shooting down unarmed aircraft and acting to assert ownership of the territories entrusted to them are totally inconsistent with the spirit of peacekeeping.”
“The United States must lead an intensive international diplomatic counter-offensive against Russia’s efforts to destabilize Georgia and the region. A peaceful solution to the standoff will require U.S. leadership and engagement by the rest of NATO,” Deputy Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Lugar (Republican) said. The statement includes also the words of Senator Martinez (Republican): “The Georgian people deserve to know the United States Congress stands with them”.
The NATO leadership also demanded to withdraw the railway troops from Abkhazia. On June 3, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer claimed that Russia should withdraw the unit sent to Abkhazia to repair the railway. “This deployment is clearly in contravention of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity . The deployment appears to have no legal basis, the troops are outside the CIS peacekeeping mandate. The Georgians have not been asked, they have certainly not given their permission” , De Hoop Scheffer said.
The European Union also supported Georgia. On May 29 Sukhumi was visited by 15 representative of the EU foreign ministries in order to discuss with the leadership of Abkhazia a possibility to resume the negotiations with Georgia. On June 5, Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy , visited Georgia. The purpose of the visit was to explore the situation in the zones of conflicts in the territory of Georgia and discuss the options of reconciliation.
Let us note that nobody of the EU “visitor” spoke in favor of the rights of the Abkhazian people to live as they want it, and to have their own statehood, which by the way has deep historical roots. Nobody of the EU “visitors” noted that the measures of Russia associated with lifting of the sanctions off the unrecognized republics and repair of the railway meet not only needs of the Abkhazia people who for a long time fail to implement their inherent right to live the decent life due to the breakdown after the Georgian-Abkhaz war, but also the needs of Georgia.
The position of the European Union with respect to the situation in the Transcaucasia was delivered to the Russian State Duma by European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner, she said that “the EU will continue to argue for an approach that fully respects Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”. And again no single word about the rights and interests of the Abkhazians.
European Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner also repeated the treats of the Georgian politicians that aggravation of the situation relating to Abkhazia and South Ossetia may have a negative impact on the Sochi Olympics in 2014. It already looks like a consolidated blackmail of Russia by Georgia and European Union.
In spite of the Saakashvili’s statements about his efforts to improve relations of Georgia with Russia, any positive changes in the Tbilisi’s stand are hardly expectable. The results of the meeting between M. Saakashvili and Russian President D. Medvedev in St.-Petersburg are convincing proof of this conclusion. Each of the parties held by its opinion.
It is not impossible that M. Saakashvili again relies on his Western patrons: the USA, NATO and EU. At the recent USA-EU Summit in Slovenia they urged Russia “to abandon provocative actions …and respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia”. And again no single word about the Abkhazians’ legal rights of sovereignty and independence. But all humanitarian actions of Russia taken in order to improve the living standards in Abkhazia again called “aggressive and provocative” pursuing the goal to annex the Abkhaz territory, which de-facto does not belong to Georgia long ago.
