Is Russia Trying to Annex Abkhazia or Just Destabilize Georgia?
Filed under: Asia
Do you dare to imagine Russia's reaction if a wolfpack of NATO helicopters plunged into Chechnya by night, violating Russian air space to do so, in order to attack Russia-friendly forces seeking to subjugate the Chechen rebels? Can you imagine how Russia would wail to high heaven about "provocation" and the "territorial integrity" of Russia?
Other countries, it seems, are not entitled to any such attitudes. Especially not Georgia.
Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not denying that, as the Jamestown Foundation reports: "an air attack on Georgia's upper Kodori Valley during the night of March 11-12 was carried out by Russian helicopters." JF describes the carnage:
Two or three helicopters violated Georgia's internationally recognized air space over the upper Kodori Valley that night, flying in from Russia's Karachaevo-Cherkessia region. The helicopters, apparently of the Mi-24 type, fired at least 20 guided projectiles, damaging the local government headquarters, a school, and some other civilian administration buildings in several villages. The damaged building in the village of Chkhalta is shared by the government office and a school. This attack is at least the fifth Russian violation of Georgian air space in the upper Kodori Valley in the last six months. It is, however, the first incident when weapons were fired. Georgian radar recorded all of those incidents, but Georgian police stationed in the area have long been instructed not to fire.
The Kodori Valley, see map above, borders Abkhazia, a region of Georgia agitating for independence in exactly the same way Chechnya has been doing against Russia for years now. Yet while Russia insists no foreign nation can dare to "interfere" in Chechnya, Russia apparently has no problem making military incursions against pro-Georgian forces in Abkhazia. The JF reports:
According to the ministry's chief spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, the incident is a "logical result" of Georgia's July 2006 decision to re-establish control over this part of Abkhazia and install authorities loyal to Tbilisi there. Even more explicitly, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin describes the air incident as part of an "action-reaction" process, triggered by Tbilisi's "destabilizing" decision last year, with consequences now and perhaps down the road. He warns, "This incident sends a strong message to those who are attempting to destabilize" the situation." By this logic, the re-establishment of Georgia's legitimate authority in the anarchic no-man's land that used to be upper Kodori is destabilizing, notwithstanding the actual stabilization and rapid economic development of the area in the secure environment that exists since July 2006. Further, by Moscow's official logic, the air attack on Kodori should serve as proof that Georgia is destabilizing the area. It reflects Moscow's traditional belief that Georgia's stability and prosperity are incompatible with Russian interests.
The JF notes: "An investigative report is due for release in the next few days under a United Nations imprint. The political issue at hand is whether the UN would, as usual, seek to obscure Russia's responsibility." It's more than obvious that if the UN is prepared to accept the conclusion that "Georgia's stability and prosperity are incompatible with Russian interests" and therefore sweep this incident under the carpet, it may have outlived its usefulness. Whether Russia is seeking to actually annex the territory of Abkhazia by attacking the chokepoint border area time after time, or just to destabilize the anti-Russian government in Tbilisi (against which it has already tried to foment a coup d'etat), the world must send a clear message to Russia that its actions are intolerable.
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