Murder as Problem Solver
September 10, 2008
Russia could find that it is getting more than it bargained for
EVEN by Russia’s recent bloody standards, it was a brazen killing. Magomed Yevloyev, the editor of an opposition website in Russia’s north Caucasus territory of Ingushetia, was detained by the police as he arrived in Nazran on a flight from Moscow on August 31st. Within minutes he was dead, having allegedly tried to seize a policeman’s rifle and been shot in the head. His body was dumped outside the region’s main hospital.
The Ingush authorities say they are investigating an accidental death but nobody takes this seriously. There were reports that Mr Yevloyev quarrelled with the region’s president, Murat Zyazikov, who was on the flight. Ingushetia’s interior minister, Musa Medov, is said to have personally supervised his arrest. Memorial, a Russian human-rights group, called the killing a “demonstrative and cynical crime” and “act of state terror”.
For the past 17 years, the north Caucasus has been Russia’s poorest and most violent region. Now Russia’s war in Georgia may have triggered a new cycle of repression and resistance. The focus of concern is not so much Chechnya, which is in a state of precarious calm thanks to the local strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov, well known for his use of both violence and bribery to crush opponents. Chechnya’s immediate neighbours to the east and west are now the ones to be worried about.
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Dagestan is increasingly ungovernable and violent. A leading opposition politician, Farid Babayev, was murdered last year. This week a journalist, Abdulla Alishayev, died after being shot by unknown assailants. Ingushetia itself is close to boiling point. Many Islamist militants decamped there from Chechnya and 70 policemen have been killed this year. The authorities are waging a dirty war of reprisals in which civilians are the main victims. Memorial estimates that there were 40 extra-judicial killings in Ingushetia last year.
Ingushetiya.ru, Mr Yevloyev’s website, had become a rallying point for opposition to the president, an ineffectual ex-KGB officer installed by Moscow. It riled Mr Zyazikov with a campaign called “I did not vote”, collecting 90,000 signatures to disprove the official boast that 98% of Ingush had voted for the Kremlin’s party in a near-universal turnout at last year’s parliamentary election.
Russia’s victory in Georgia looks rather different to the Ingush who were the losers in a small nasty territorial conflict with North Ossetia in 1992. As a result of this thousands are still unable to go home. Many resent what they see as Moscow’s overt patronage of the mainly Christian Ossetians, now reinforced by the recognition of an independent South Ossetia. “We need to ask Europe or America to separate us from Russia,” cried an Ingush opposition leader, Magomed Khazbiev, at a protest against the killing of Mr Yevloyev that was later broken up by the police.
Source: The Economist, September 2008
www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12052702
Russia to Double Its Forces in Two Regions
September 10, 2008
Long Deployment Seen In S. Ossetia, Abkhazia
Russia plans to more than double its military presence in the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and station troops there indefinitely, officials said Tuesday, a day after President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to withdraw Russian forces from undisputed Georgian territory by Oct. 11.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters that Russian troops would remain in the separatist regions “for a long time. Their presence there will be needed at least for the foreseeable future to prevent any relapses of aggressive actions.” Separately, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov was quoted as telling Medvedev in a meeting that South Ossetia and Abkhazia had agreed to host bases with about 3,800 Russian soldiers each.
Before last month’s war with Georgia, the Russian military stationed about 1,000 troops in South Ossetia and 2,500 in Abkhazia as peacekeeping forces. After the war, Russian officials suggested they intended to keep troops in the regions, which it now recognizes as independent states.
Tuesday’s statements were the clearest and most detailed indication of the Kremlin’s plans to date. The timing of the announcement, a day after Medvedev agreed in talks with European leaders to withdraw troops from all Georgian territory outside the disputed territories, seemed intended to emphasize Russia’s determination to support the secession of the two regions despite strong Western objections.
“I hope that, as a minimum, this will stop the Georgian military regime from committing any idiotic actions,” Medvedev told the defense minister in remarks carried by the Interfax news agency.
Alexander Lomaia, secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, said the Russian announcement went “completely against the spirit and the letter” of the six-point cease-fire agreement that ended hostilities.
The two regions enjoyed de facto autonomy for more than a decade before Russia’s decision to formally recognize their secession. Russia said it was compelled to act after Georgia abandoned peace talks and tried to seize South Ossetia by force on Aug. 7.
Russia has argued that South Ossetia and Abkhazia have a stronger case for independence than Kosovo, the Serbian province that the United States and much of Europe recognized as independent in February over Moscow’s objections.
Western governments have denounced Russia’s moves as an attempt to unilaterally redraw Georgia’s borders.
In Washington on Tuesday, U.S. lawmakers pressed Bush administration officials on whether the United States can realistically impose sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Georgia.
“What kind of leverage do we have that they care about?” Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) asked at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “It strikes me that simply verbal condemnation and diplomatic isolation may not be enough to get the job done.”
Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, agreed: “You’re quite right that a couple of communiques . . . do not constitute a lasting lesson.” But he said Russia’s dependence on natural resource exports and its large population leave it “ill-placed to have a hostile relationship with the world.”
Senators raised the possibility of mustering international groups such as the World Trade Organization and the Group of Seven industrialized nations to impose costs on Russia, as well as intensifying pressure on Russian financial markets and foreign investment in the country.
In New York on Tuesday, Russia introduced a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would bar states from selling arms or providing military training to Georgia. The resolution appears unlikely to be adopted by the 15-nation council, on which the United States holds a veto. The measure highlighted Russia’s opposition to U.S. military support for its neighbor.
Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, sought to promote the diplomatic standing of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, telling reporters that their leaders need to be directly involved in future discussions about the United Nations’ role in the region.
Source: The Washington Post, September 2008
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090900983.html
Bagapsh Says No Plans for New Russian Bases in Abkhazia
September 2, 2008
There will be no Russia’s new military bases in Abkhazia, Sergey Bagapsh, the Abkhaz leader said on September 2, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Neither warships of Russia’s Black Sea fleet be deployed in Abkhazia, he also added.
“Only [Russian] land forces, which were here throughout these years, will remain in Abkhazia,” Bagapsh said.
Russian news agencies reported on August 29 that Russia planned two military bases in Abkhazia – one in Gudauta and another one in Ochamchire. Georgia has long claimed that the Gudauta military base in Abkhazia was in fact never closed down, with the Russian military continuing to use the infrastructure there.
Source: Civil.Ge, September 2008
www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=19376
Back to School for Ossetian Children
September 1, 2008
Seven of fourteen schools in South Ossetia’s war-torn capital of Tskhinval opened in time for the start of the academic year on Monday. Four hundred workers from Russia’s special construction company, Spetzstroi, worked around the clock to get the schools ready.
The first lesson of the day focuses on the events of the past several weeks and the bloody conflict which forced many of the children and their parents to flee the city. Teachers say it is important for the students to come to terms with the violence and horrors they have been exposed to.
Officials from Russia’s Emergency Ministry will give special classes on dealing with critical situations should the city become the target of another attack. Students will be taught first aid, as well as how to deal with fires and how to take shelter in the event of a bombing.
Russia Promises Military Aid to South Ossetia
August 31, 2008
Russia’s president said Sunday his country will give military aid to the two separatist regions at the center of the war with Georgia — signaling Moscow has no intention of backing down in the face of Western pressure.
Dmitry Medvedev also warned that American domination of world affairs is unacceptable, though he insisted that Russia did not want hostile relations with the United States and other Western nations.
Medvedev’s decision Tuesday to recognize the Georgian breakaway provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent drew condemnation from the West. Though no other countries have followed Russia’s lead, Medvedev reaffirmed the decision on Sunday.
“We have made our decision, and it’s irreversible,” he said in a speech broadcast on Russian television.
The war began Aug. 7 when Georgian forces began heavy shelling of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, hoping to retake control of the province. Russian forces poured in, pushed the Georgians out in a matter of days and then drove deep into Georgia proper.
European Union leaders planned an emergency meeting Monday to discuss how to deal with an increasingly assertive Russia, but they are not expected to impose sanctions. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has angrily warned Europe not to do America’s bidding and said Moscow does not fear Western sanctions.
Medvedev said Sunday the world would be more stable if the U.S. was less dominant.
“The world must be multi-polar; domination is unacceptable,” he said. “We can’t accept the world order where all decisions are made by one nation, even by such serious and authoritative nation as the United States. Such a world would be unstable and prone to conflicts.”
Still he insisted Russia does not want to distance itself too much from the West.
“Russia doesn’t want to isolate itself,” he said.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said the EU summit was a sign of a strong global support for Georgia.
“Russia today has found itself more isolated than the Soviet Union ever was,” he said in a televised statement.
Georgia asked the EU and the U.S. to impose sanctions on companies and individuals that do business in Abkhazia and South Ossetia without its permission.
Medvedev said Russia was preparing to sign deals with the two provinces that will detail Moscow’s obligations on economic, military and other assistance to them. He said the agreements will lay the foundation for “allied” relations.
“We will provide all kinds of assistance to these republics,” Medvedev said. “These international agreements will spell out our obligations on providing support and assistance: economic, social, humanitarian and military.”
Medvedev also said Russia will protect what he called its “privileged” interests in the former Soviet nations and defend its citizens and the interests of its businessmen abroad.
He said Russia may consider economic sanctions against unfriendly nations, but would like to avoid it.
Medvedev’s predecessor and mentor Putin cautioned European nations against adopting the tough U.S. stance on Russia and “serving someone else’s political interests.” Speaking to Russian television Sunday, Putin voiced hope that the Europeans will “look out for their own skins.”
Putin, who was speaking during a visit to Russia’s far eastern region, said Russia will diversify its energy exports and expand sales to booming Asian markets. His comments appeared to be a response to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s call in an article published Sunday for Europe to adopt a united energy policy and avoid dependence on Russia.
Russia supplies the EU with about a third of its oil and about two-fifths of its natural gas, and can turn off the tap if it chooses.
Putin said, however, that Russia’s plans to expand energy exports to Asia doesn’t mean that it would cut supplies to European markets.
“We aren’t going to impose any restrictions. We will fulfill our contract obligations,” Putin said. “But we will expand and diversify our opportunities in exporting hydrocarbons. The global economy, and, particularly, the rapidly growing Pacific region, need that.”
Georgia has severed diplomatic ties with Moscow to protest the presence of Russian troops on its territory. It claims, as does the West, that Russia is violating an EU-brokered cease-fire mandating that both sides return their forces to prewar positions. Russia has interpreted one of the agreement’s clauses as allowing them to remain in security zones, now marked by Russian checkpoints.
Georgia appears likely to be hosting tens of thousands of refugees for a grindingly long and expensive time. How much aid the small and struggling country will need to support them is to be among the top issues of the EU summit on Monday.
The United States has sent substantial aid to Georgia following the war, using naval ships and military aircraft. Russian officials speculated that the United States was trying to restore Georgia’s armed forces, which had received massive military aid from Washington in recent years.
Source: The Associated Press, August 2008
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080831/ap_on_re_eu/georgia_russia
South Ossetia, Abkhazia to Recognize Each Other, Ink Military Cooperation Agreements
August 31, 2008
South Ossetia and Abkhazia are willing to seal agreements on recognizing each other and on military cooperation, South Ossetia’s Ambassador to Abkhazia Robert Kokoev told RIA Novosti.
“Any state has allies, and given the world situation, in which we are living, this [signing the agreements] is of high priority. Avoiding it is impossible with the neighbor that we have,” Kokoev reasoned. The republics recognized each other even earlier, but they are willing to seal a new agreement in capacity of the recognized states.
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev declared August 26 that he inked decrees on recognizing independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Worker Shortage Slows Tskhinvali Repairs
August 31, 2008
A shortage of workers is hampering efforts to rebuild the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinval, according to Russia’s Federal Service for Special Construction. At the moment, the priority for builders and emergency workers is to open schools in time for the start of term on Monday.
Half of the work will be conducted by Russian forces and another part by a Chechen construction company.
Mikhail Tashlyk, a Spetsstroy official said: “Yesterday we met with the Prime Minister of Chechnya. A Chechen construction company will be in charge of construction works in the south of the city. They have adequate experience.”
Around 65 buildings have been already completely restored.
Reports: Russia Plans Military Bases in S.Ossetia, Abkhazia
August 29, 2008
Russia and South Ossetia will sign a military agreement next week allowing Russia to set up a military base in the breakaway region, Tarzan Kokoity, the acting vice-speaker of the South Ossetian parliament, said on August 29.
He said that the agreement was expected to be signed on September 2, Interfax news agency reported.
Interfax quoted an unnamed “military-diplomatic source” in Moscow as saying that Russia was planning to establish three military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
In particular, he said, the plan envisaged bases in Gudauta and Ochamchire in Abkhazia. Georgia has long claimed that the Gudauta military base was in fact never closed down, with the Russian military continuing to use the infrastructure there. As far as Ochamchire is concerned, there is a port in this district of the breakaway region.
The Russian news agency also reported, quoting the source as saying that a Russian military base was planned for Java. The Georgian authorities claim that the Russian side started construction of military infrastructure in this South Ossetian stronghold long before the invasion of Georgia.
Source: Civil.Ge Online Magazine, August 2008
www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=19335
South Ossetia says Russia Intends to Absorb Region
August 29, 2008
Russia intends to eventually absorb Georgia’s breakaway province of South Ossetia, a South Ossetian official said Friday, three days after Moscow recognized the region as independent and drew criticism from the West.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and the region’s leader, Eduard Kokoity, discussed the future of South Ossetia earlier this week in Moscow, South Ossetian parliamentary speaker Znaur Gassiyev said.
Russia will absorb South Ossetia “in several years” or earlier, a position was “firmly stated by both leaders,” Gassiyev said.
In Moscow, a Kremlin spokeswoman said Friday there was “no official information” on the talks.
The vice speaker of Georgia’s parliament, Gigi Tsereteli, said the statement cannot be taken seriously.
Hammarberg Saw Humanitarian Catastrophe, Not Genocide
August 29, 2008
Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg acknowledged yesterday that the war in South Ossetia had led to the humanitarian catastrophe. But the commissioner saw no evidences of genocide there all persistence of the RF Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov notwithstanding.
Speaker of upper house of the RF parliament Sergei Mironov and Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg canvassed yesterday aftereffects of combat actions in South Ossetia. Mr Hammarberg had just retuned from Tbilisi, Gori, Tskhinvali and Vladikavkaz.
The war led to the humanitarian catastrophe, the European commissioner said, recommending to both parties in conflict to focus on needs of victims quite a number of whom have been left without a roof over the head and in desperate condition.