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RUSSIA TO KEEP SOLDIERS IN GEORGIA
By Sergei L. Loiko and Borzou Daragahi
Los Angeles Times
Aug 21 2008
CA
Moscow plans to set up 18 checkpoints, some in Georgia proper,
a Kremlin official says. The plan appears to violate the terms of
a cease-fire.
MOSCOW -- Russia plans to establish a long-term presence in Georgia and
one of its breakaway republics by adding 18 checkpoints, including
at least eight within undisputed Georgian territory outside the
pro-Russian enclave of South Ossetia, a ranking Russian military
official told reporters Wednesday.
The checkpoints will be staffed by hundreds of Russian troops, the
official said, and those within Georgia proper will have supplies
ferried to them from breakaway South Ossetia.
If implemented, the plan would in effect put under Russian control
the border between Georgia and the South Ossetia region, which is
seeking independence, as well as a small chunk of Georgia proper.
"This is the essence of it," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief
of the army general staff, told reporters at a briefing. He showed
maps detailing the proposed Russian positions, one just outside the
Georgian city of Gori, which lies along a crucial juncture of the
country's main east-west highway.
"The president ordered us to stop where we were," he said. "We are
not pulling out and pulling back troops behind this administrative
border into the territory of South Ossetia."
The plans appear to violate the terms of a French-endorsed cease-fire
deal signed late last week by the presidents of Georgia and Russia. It
called for both country's troops and allied armed groups to move back
to their positions held before hostilities between the two countries'
troops led to a Russian military incursion early this month into the
staunchly pro-U.S. Caucasus Mountains nation.
Russian officials say the deal allows them to keep troops along the
South Ossetia-Georgia border as well as within Georgia proper as
part of a peacekeeping mission begun in the 1990s. The Russians say
their peacekeeping mandate gives them access to a "security zone"
along the border.
At the United Nations, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on Wednesday
circulated a draft resolution calling for the Security Council's
endorsement of the cease-fire plan that had been promoted last week
by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff made it clear that
Washington opposed the Russian initiative. He said it is "designed
to rubber-stamp a Russian interpretation" of the cease-fire that the
West rejects.
Western envoys at the U.N. supported a French draft resolution Monday
calling for immediate Russian withdrawal from Georgia. But Russia,
which wields a Security Council veto, blocked it. The 15-member
council did not debate the rival Russian draft.
Relations between the West and Moscow have plummeted to their
lowest depths since the end of the Cold War, prompting fear that an
economically invigorated Russia would strive to reestablish authority
over what it views as its centuries-old sphere of influence, including
Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Top diplomats of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization members said they would reconsider their relations
with Moscow in light of its incursion into Georgia.
In this month's fighting, at least 64 Russian soldiers were killed
and 323 injured, Nogovitsyn said. Russians were outraged by what
they called an unprovoked surprise attack by Georgians on Russian
peacekeepers based in South Ossetia, as well as civilians in the
breakaway region. Georgians have accused Moscow of provoking the
fight as a pretext for sending troops into Georgian territory.
Officials in Georgia, the U.S. and European nations have demanded
that Russia pull its troops back to positions held before the fighting
broke out Aug. 7.
President Bush reiterated that message Wednesday during a speech at
the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Orlando, Fla.,
and defended Georgia's claim to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another
pro-Moscow breakaway region.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that the presence
of Russia's forces is "now having an effect" on Georgia's neighbors,
Armenia and Azerbaijan, by making imports and exports difficult. She
said Armenia is beginning to see shortages.
Rice said that as of midafternoon, U.S. officials had seen no signs
of a Russian retreat from Georgia. Another U.S. official said some
movement suggested that some military units might be pulling back.
In Moscow, Nogovitsyn said "time will tell" when Russians would pull
troops out of areas they control in Georgia proper, including the
key city of Gori. He called the proposed new checkpoints "observation
posts."
Georgian officials voiced outrage over the continued Russian
presence. The Georgian Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that
Russians had set up a new position along the highway between the
Black Sea port city of Poti and Abkhazia.
"Over the last seven days they've promised three times to leave,
but they've yet to fulfill their promises," said Alexander Lomaia,
Georgia's national security advisor, during an interview in downtown
Gori.
"We're here and we haven't seen any sign of them pulling out," he
said. "There is the same number of checkpoints and the same severe
rules for entering and exiting."
The U.S. military flew in five loads of relief supplies, news agencies
reported. It is also attempting to dispatch several military vessels
from the Mediterranean to Georgia's Black Sea coast with additional
aid.
[email protected]
Loiko reported from Moscow and Daragahi from Gori. Times staff writers
Paul Richter in Warsaw and Richard Boudreaux at the United Nations
also contributed to this report.
By Sergei L. Loiko and Borzou Daragahi
Los Angeles Times
Aug 21 2008
CA
Moscow plans to set up 18 checkpoints, some in Georgia proper,
a Kremlin official says. The plan appears to violate the terms of
a cease-fire.
MOSCOW -- Russia plans to establish a long-term presence in Georgia and
one of its breakaway republics by adding 18 checkpoints, including
at least eight within undisputed Georgian territory outside the
pro-Russian enclave of South Ossetia, a ranking Russian military
official told reporters Wednesday.
The checkpoints will be staffed by hundreds of Russian troops, the
official said, and those within Georgia proper will have supplies
ferried to them from breakaway South Ossetia.
If implemented, the plan would in effect put under Russian control
the border between Georgia and the South Ossetia region, which is
seeking independence, as well as a small chunk of Georgia proper.
"This is the essence of it," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief
of the army general staff, told reporters at a briefing. He showed
maps detailing the proposed Russian positions, one just outside the
Georgian city of Gori, which lies along a crucial juncture of the
country's main east-west highway.
"The president ordered us to stop where we were," he said. "We are
not pulling out and pulling back troops behind this administrative
border into the territory of South Ossetia."
The plans appear to violate the terms of a French-endorsed cease-fire
deal signed late last week by the presidents of Georgia and Russia. It
called for both country's troops and allied armed groups to move back
to their positions held before hostilities between the two countries'
troops led to a Russian military incursion early this month into the
staunchly pro-U.S. Caucasus Mountains nation.
Russian officials say the deal allows them to keep troops along the
South Ossetia-Georgia border as well as within Georgia proper as
part of a peacekeeping mission begun in the 1990s. The Russians say
their peacekeeping mandate gives them access to a "security zone"
along the border.
At the United Nations, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on Wednesday
circulated a draft resolution calling for the Security Council's
endorsement of the cease-fire plan that had been promoted last week
by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff made it clear that
Washington opposed the Russian initiative. He said it is "designed
to rubber-stamp a Russian interpretation" of the cease-fire that the
West rejects.
Western envoys at the U.N. supported a French draft resolution Monday
calling for immediate Russian withdrawal from Georgia. But Russia,
which wields a Security Council veto, blocked it. The 15-member
council did not debate the rival Russian draft.
Relations between the West and Moscow have plummeted to their
lowest depths since the end of the Cold War, prompting fear that an
economically invigorated Russia would strive to reestablish authority
over what it views as its centuries-old sphere of influence, including
Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Top diplomats of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization members said they would reconsider their relations
with Moscow in light of its incursion into Georgia.
In this month's fighting, at least 64 Russian soldiers were killed
and 323 injured, Nogovitsyn said. Russians were outraged by what
they called an unprovoked surprise attack by Georgians on Russian
peacekeepers based in South Ossetia, as well as civilians in the
breakaway region. Georgians have accused Moscow of provoking the
fight as a pretext for sending troops into Georgian territory.
Officials in Georgia, the U.S. and European nations have demanded
that Russia pull its troops back to positions held before the fighting
broke out Aug. 7.
President Bush reiterated that message Wednesday during a speech at
the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Orlando, Fla.,
and defended Georgia's claim to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another
pro-Moscow breakaway region.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that the presence
of Russia's forces is "now having an effect" on Georgia's neighbors,
Armenia and Azerbaijan, by making imports and exports difficult. She
said Armenia is beginning to see shortages.
Rice said that as of midafternoon, U.S. officials had seen no signs
of a Russian retreat from Georgia. Another U.S. official said some
movement suggested that some military units might be pulling back.
In Moscow, Nogovitsyn said "time will tell" when Russians would pull
troops out of areas they control in Georgia proper, including the
key city of Gori. He called the proposed new checkpoints "observation
posts."
Georgian officials voiced outrage over the continued Russian
presence. The Georgian Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that
Russians had set up a new position along the highway between the
Black Sea port city of Poti and Abkhazia.
"Over the last seven days they've promised three times to leave,
but they've yet to fulfill their promises," said Alexander Lomaia,
Georgia's national security advisor, during an interview in downtown
Gori.
"We're here and we haven't seen any sign of them pulling out," he
said. "There is the same number of checkpoints and the same severe
rules for entering and exiting."
The U.S. military flew in five loads of relief supplies, news agencies
reported. It is also attempting to dispatch several military vessels
from the Mediterranean to Georgia's Black Sea coast with additional
aid.
[email protected]
Loiko reported from Moscow and Daragahi from Gori. Times staff writers
Paul Richter in Warsaw and Richard Boudreaux at the United Nations
also contributed to this report.