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Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
July 26 2005
Georgia: Tbilisi Says Russian Officers Behind Gori Bombing
By Jean-Christophe Peuch
A fighter in South Ossetia (file photo)
(AFP)
Georgian officials on 25 July blamed Russian intelligence operatives
for a recent series of attacks in the South Caucasus country. Those
attacks include a fatal car bombing in Gori, the main city of the
Shida Kartli region, near the separatist region of South Ossetia.
Russia denies any involvement in the attacks, and has labeled the
charges a provocation. The accusations are not likely to ease
Georgia's already troubled relations with Russia.
Prague, 26 July 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Georgian Interior Minister Vano
Merabishvili, speaking in Gori on 25 July, announced the arrest last
week of two suspects in a 1 February blast that claimed the lives of
three police officers.
"I would like to express my thanks to the counter-intelligence
department, which has demonstrated an exceptional professionalism in
the past six months, identifying and [eventually] arresting the
people who carried out this terrorist attack," Merabishvili said.
"The two individuals who parked that notorious car here and then blew
it up have been arrested and will be brought to justice under
Georgian laws."
Merabishvili said six additional suspects are being sought in
connection with the case. A third man was arrested on 25 July.
Georgian officials had long suspected South Ossetian separatists were
responsible for the blast.
But Georgian analysts have said they believe the blast could be
linked to infighting among rival Gori-based criminal groups
controlling smuggling operations to and from South Ossetia. Several
regional police officials -- including Shida Kartli police chief
Aleko Sukhitashvili, the alleged target of the bombing -- were
dismissed on suspicion of corruption in March.
Merabishvili on 25 July said confessions obtained from the two
detainees had helped investigators determine the Gori attack had been
planned by a man he identified as Colonel Anatolii Sysoev of the
Russian Army's Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU.
The interior minister was joined by Givi Targamadze, who heads the
Georgian Parliament's Defense and Security Committee.
Targamadze accused Russia of using South Ossetia as a base for
carrying out a number of sabotage operations against Georgian
interests -- including attacks last year on the country's electricity
grid that caused severe power outages.
"It is very unfortunate that our suspicions regarding Russia's
possible direct involvement in our internal conflict [with South
Ossetia] have proved founded," Targamadze said. "[The Russians] are
directly training groups of saboteurs. We said in the past that we
had information in regard to this. These groups are quite large,
numbering -- according to our information -- about 120 people. In
addition, there are quite a lot of [Russian] agents on Georgian
territory."
The Interior Ministry later released a police video purporting to
show one of the detainees admitting to playing a role in the Gori
attack.
Investigators have identified the man as Gia Valishvili, an ethnic
Georgian who said he recently changed his name to Valiev. In the
video, Valiev described how he and his accomplices organized the
attack, planting 70 kilograms of TNT in a car left outside the Gori
police headquarters."It is very unfortunate that our suspicions
regarding Russia's possible direct involvement in our internal
conflict [with South Ossetia] have proved founded." Georgian
parliamentarian Givi Targamadze
Valiev claimed the mastermind of the attack was a Russian, a man whom
he identifies simply as Igor. In the video, Valiev said Igor
suggested the explosives be connected to a detonator hidden in a
cigarette pack in the car's glove box.
"The explosives had a special detonator that Igor had prepared,"
Valiev said. "The mechanism was hidden in a pack of Yava cigarettes.
Two wires were protruding from the pack and were connected to an
explosive capsule. On the side of the pack was a switch. After the
mechanism was activated, it would go off within 15 minutes if neither
the car nor the pack were moved. If the car or the pack was moved, it
would go off within two hours."
Valiev never mentions Anatolii Sysoev by name. But Georgian
investigators say the GRU operative is the same man Valiev identifies
as Igor.
In a fresh police video released on 26 July, Valiev told
investigators that Igor and other GRU operatives had established a
headquarters with Russian peacekeepers in the South Ossetian capital
of Tskhinvali.
`In the second half of 2004, around 15 August, the GRU took us to the
Daryal Gorge in [neighboring] North Ossetia," Valiev said. "We were
trained at the 58th [Russian] army base. Our instructors were
Russian. They taught us how to fire various weapons, assault rifles
in particular, how to lay mines and use various pieces of heavy
equipment. There were some 90 of us from [South] Ossetia at the
base.'
Georgian officials have been careful not to implicate the Russian
government in the attack. But the allegations have still sparked
anger in Moscow.
Yevgenii Ivanov, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi,
rejected suggestions his country could be behind the Gori attack.
"We categorically deny any possible involvement of Russian officials,
or [government] institutions, in any illegal action committed on
Georgian territory," Ivanov said.
In comments made to Russia's state-controlled Channel One television,
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov also rejected
Merabishvili's accusations.
Sedov said Moscow is "accustomed to seeing the Georgians make
mountains out of molehills." In this case, he added, there wasn't
even a molehill to begin with.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tbilisi's claims
"would neither help normalize the situation in South Ossetia, nor
contribute to the further development of Russian-Georgian ties."
Relations between Georgia and Russia have long been tense, despite
the mild rapprochement that followed Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili's election in 2004.
Tbilisi accuses Russia of supporting separatist regimes in South
Ossetia and Abkhazia, while Moscow blames Georgia for allegedly
allowing Chechen militants onto its territory.
Addressing an emergency security meeting in Tbilisi, Saakashvili on
25 July praised investigators for arresting suspects in connection
with the Gori bombing. But he said claims that Russian individuals
are involved in the attack should not harm ties with Moscow.
"I would like to stress that although there are clear indications
that foreign citizens were involved in these operations -- and we
have ample documented evidence of that -- I want everyone to know
that we all have that information, but that we don't want to use it
for confrontation," Saakashvili said. "We don't want cooperation with
Russia [in the anti-terrorism fight] to turn into confrontation. We
want full cooperation with the Russian Federation, with its
appropriate services and their heads, as well as with [its]
government on issues related to the fight against terrorism."
Meanwhile, Russian media on 26 July said Georgia's accusations are
likely to prompt increased tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi.
In a commentary, Russia's state-controlled Radio Mayak said the
claims are "absurd" and that there are no possible motives for Moscow
to be involved.
Other Russian media note that Targamadze and other Georgian officials
have also suggested Moscow might be behind a recent failed grenade
attack on U.S. President George W. Bush during a visit to Tbilisi in
May.
An ethnic Armenian resident of Tbilisi, identified as 27-year-old
Vladimir Arutyunian, was arrested last week on suspicion of throwing
a Russian-made device at Bush and Saakashvili while the two
presidents were addressing a large crowd on Tbilisi's Freedom Square.
The grenade reportedly failed to go off due to a malfunction.
Although Arutyunian has suggested in a police video that he acted
alone, Georgian investigators on 25 July said they were looking for
possible accomplices.
July 26 2005
Georgia: Tbilisi Says Russian Officers Behind Gori Bombing
By Jean-Christophe Peuch
A fighter in South Ossetia (file photo)
(AFP)
Georgian officials on 25 July blamed Russian intelligence operatives
for a recent series of attacks in the South Caucasus country. Those
attacks include a fatal car bombing in Gori, the main city of the
Shida Kartli region, near the separatist region of South Ossetia.
Russia denies any involvement in the attacks, and has labeled the
charges a provocation. The accusations are not likely to ease
Georgia's already troubled relations with Russia.
Prague, 26 July 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Georgian Interior Minister Vano
Merabishvili, speaking in Gori on 25 July, announced the arrest last
week of two suspects in a 1 February blast that claimed the lives of
three police officers.
"I would like to express my thanks to the counter-intelligence
department, which has demonstrated an exceptional professionalism in
the past six months, identifying and [eventually] arresting the
people who carried out this terrorist attack," Merabishvili said.
"The two individuals who parked that notorious car here and then blew
it up have been arrested and will be brought to justice under
Georgian laws."
Merabishvili said six additional suspects are being sought in
connection with the case. A third man was arrested on 25 July.
Georgian officials had long suspected South Ossetian separatists were
responsible for the blast.
But Georgian analysts have said they believe the blast could be
linked to infighting among rival Gori-based criminal groups
controlling smuggling operations to and from South Ossetia. Several
regional police officials -- including Shida Kartli police chief
Aleko Sukhitashvili, the alleged target of the bombing -- were
dismissed on suspicion of corruption in March.
Merabishvili on 25 July said confessions obtained from the two
detainees had helped investigators determine the Gori attack had been
planned by a man he identified as Colonel Anatolii Sysoev of the
Russian Army's Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU.
The interior minister was joined by Givi Targamadze, who heads the
Georgian Parliament's Defense and Security Committee.
Targamadze accused Russia of using South Ossetia as a base for
carrying out a number of sabotage operations against Georgian
interests -- including attacks last year on the country's electricity
grid that caused severe power outages.
"It is very unfortunate that our suspicions regarding Russia's
possible direct involvement in our internal conflict [with South
Ossetia] have proved founded," Targamadze said. "[The Russians] are
directly training groups of saboteurs. We said in the past that we
had information in regard to this. These groups are quite large,
numbering -- according to our information -- about 120 people. In
addition, there are quite a lot of [Russian] agents on Georgian
territory."
The Interior Ministry later released a police video purporting to
show one of the detainees admitting to playing a role in the Gori
attack.
Investigators have identified the man as Gia Valishvili, an ethnic
Georgian who said he recently changed his name to Valiev. In the
video, Valiev described how he and his accomplices organized the
attack, planting 70 kilograms of TNT in a car left outside the Gori
police headquarters."It is very unfortunate that our suspicions
regarding Russia's possible direct involvement in our internal
conflict [with South Ossetia] have proved founded." Georgian
parliamentarian Givi Targamadze
Valiev claimed the mastermind of the attack was a Russian, a man whom
he identifies simply as Igor. In the video, Valiev said Igor
suggested the explosives be connected to a detonator hidden in a
cigarette pack in the car's glove box.
"The explosives had a special detonator that Igor had prepared,"
Valiev said. "The mechanism was hidden in a pack of Yava cigarettes.
Two wires were protruding from the pack and were connected to an
explosive capsule. On the side of the pack was a switch. After the
mechanism was activated, it would go off within 15 minutes if neither
the car nor the pack were moved. If the car or the pack was moved, it
would go off within two hours."
Valiev never mentions Anatolii Sysoev by name. But Georgian
investigators say the GRU operative is the same man Valiev identifies
as Igor.
In a fresh police video released on 26 July, Valiev told
investigators that Igor and other GRU operatives had established a
headquarters with Russian peacekeepers in the South Ossetian capital
of Tskhinvali.
`In the second half of 2004, around 15 August, the GRU took us to the
Daryal Gorge in [neighboring] North Ossetia," Valiev said. "We were
trained at the 58th [Russian] army base. Our instructors were
Russian. They taught us how to fire various weapons, assault rifles
in particular, how to lay mines and use various pieces of heavy
equipment. There were some 90 of us from [South] Ossetia at the
base.'
Georgian officials have been careful not to implicate the Russian
government in the attack. But the allegations have still sparked
anger in Moscow.
Yevgenii Ivanov, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi,
rejected suggestions his country could be behind the Gori attack.
"We categorically deny any possible involvement of Russian officials,
or [government] institutions, in any illegal action committed on
Georgian territory," Ivanov said.
In comments made to Russia's state-controlled Channel One television,
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov also rejected
Merabishvili's accusations.
Sedov said Moscow is "accustomed to seeing the Georgians make
mountains out of molehills." In this case, he added, there wasn't
even a molehill to begin with.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tbilisi's claims
"would neither help normalize the situation in South Ossetia, nor
contribute to the further development of Russian-Georgian ties."
Relations between Georgia and Russia have long been tense, despite
the mild rapprochement that followed Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili's election in 2004.
Tbilisi accuses Russia of supporting separatist regimes in South
Ossetia and Abkhazia, while Moscow blames Georgia for allegedly
allowing Chechen militants onto its territory.
Addressing an emergency security meeting in Tbilisi, Saakashvili on
25 July praised investigators for arresting suspects in connection
with the Gori bombing. But he said claims that Russian individuals
are involved in the attack should not harm ties with Moscow.
"I would like to stress that although there are clear indications
that foreign citizens were involved in these operations -- and we
have ample documented evidence of that -- I want everyone to know
that we all have that information, but that we don't want to use it
for confrontation," Saakashvili said. "We don't want cooperation with
Russia [in the anti-terrorism fight] to turn into confrontation. We
want full cooperation with the Russian Federation, with its
appropriate services and their heads, as well as with [its]
government on issues related to the fight against terrorism."
Meanwhile, Russian media on 26 July said Georgia's accusations are
likely to prompt increased tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi.
In a commentary, Russia's state-controlled Radio Mayak said the
claims are "absurd" and that there are no possible motives for Moscow
to be involved.
Other Russian media note that Targamadze and other Georgian officials
have also suggested Moscow might be behind a recent failed grenade
attack on U.S. President George W. Bush during a visit to Tbilisi in
May.
An ethnic Armenian resident of Tbilisi, identified as 27-year-old
Vladimir Arutyunian, was arrested last week on suspicion of throwing
a Russian-made device at Bush and Saakashvili while the two
presidents were addressing a large crowd on Tbilisi's Freedom Square.
The grenade reportedly failed to go off due to a malfunction.
Although Arutyunian has suggested in a police video that he acted
alone, Georgian investigators on 25 July said they were looking for
possible accomplices.