On the left above, you see the face of pro-U.S. Ukrainian Viktor Yushchenko before he sought the presidency of his country. On the right, you see his face shortly after he made that decision.

What happened? Well, he ingested a large amount of highly toxic chemicals, and it wasn????????t a suicide attempt. Many people believe it was an effort by the Russian secret police to keep Yushchenko from ousting pro-Russian prime minister Viktor Yanukovich from power in the upcoming election. Yushchenko had promised to move Ukraine away from Russia and towards the European Union, NATO and the United States.

The Kremlin has no qualms about using violence to destroy its political opponents. When Mikhail Khodorkovsy, chairman of the YUKOS oil firm, began making noises about seeking the Russian presidency, he was promptly arrested, sent to Siberia and his company obliterated. The Kremlin even went after his lawyer, the mother of two small children. The Moscow Times recently reported on yet another physical assault on a key member of Garry Kasparov????????s political team, which has been under siege from the Kremlin for months now. Kasparov is the former chess master who is now seeking to bid for the Russian presidency in 2008, and he has been fiercely critical of the Neo-Soviet policies of Vladimir Putin.

And now it looks like it????????s Mikhail Saakashvili????????s turn. Publius Pundit has already reported indications that Russia attempted a direct coup d????????etat against the pro-West Saakashvili. Now, things have gone from the frying pan to the fire.

On September 26th, Georgian officials arrested five Russian military officers for spying. Believing a sixth member of the conspiracy was holed-up in a Russian military compound in Georgia????????s capital of Tbilisi, daring Georgians surrounded the facility and enforced a blockade, demanding that the individual be turned over to their law enforcement authorities. Russia threatened to use force to break the blockade, and shut down it????????s embassy in Georgia, refusing to issue travel visas to Russia. The Times of London reports: ???????Georgia has accused Russia of backing separatists in the provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in an attempt to undermine the Government ???????? an allegation which Russia denies. Only last Friday, President Saakashvili accused Moscow from the rostrum of the UN of trying to annex the breakaway provinces.??????? A Georgian government official stated that the alleged spies had ???????staged a mine explosion in February 2005 which killed three police officers in the town of Gori. He added that the arrested suspects had shown interest in Georgia????????s defence capabilities and its plans to join Nato, as well as energy security, political groupings and the country????????s military. The Russian army still has two bases in Georgia – relics of Soviet times – which are to be withdrawn by bilateral agreement in 2008.??????? As tensions escalated, on September 28th ITAR-TASS reported that “Russia has made a decision to recall its ambassador in Tbilisi, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, for consultations, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. ‘In view of the growing threat to the security of the employees of Russian offices in Georgia and members of their families their partial evacuation from that country is about to begin. The first flights are scheduled for September 29,’ sources said.”

In a truly bizarre turn, Russia????????s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that the U.N. be called in to resolve the dispute. This statement is incomprehensible given that, as previously reported on Publius Pundit, only weeks before the foreign ministry????????s own press office had stated that Russia believed the U.N. had no role to play in dealing with issues in conflict zones of unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, as well as the self-proclaimed republic of Transdnestr in Moldova. Apparently, Russia feels the U.N. can be useful as a club in the hands of Russia but not as a shield in the hands of any Russian adversary, a classically Neo-Soviet position that is deeply unsettling in light of Russian moves to reestablish control over the former Soviet slaves states as they struggle for independence.

Apart from direct frontal assaults on the Georgian regime, Russia is also seeking to destabilize it by fomenting armed conflict in various regions of unrest, particularly Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Here Russian hypocrisy is truly breathtaking; Russia utterly rejects Chechnya????????s claim to independence and righteously bellows whenever any outside nation is thought to be supporting Chechnya????????s claims. Yet, Russia has no problem in fomenting discord within Georgia, seeking to encourage similar regions to break from the Georgian fold.

The spy scandal is unfolding in the immediate wake of NATO????????s decision to begin ???????intensive dialogue??????? with Georgia over its admission to the NATO family, the final phase of negotiation before membership is granted. Obviously, once Georgia becomes a full-fledged member of NATO it will no longer be possible for Russia to attempt direct military intervention in Georgian affairs, so it is not surprising to see Russia reaching deep into its bag of evil tricks in a last-gasp attempt to unseat Georgia????????s government and forestall admission.

The very notion of democracy, much less its practice, is under direct assault in Russia today. The Kremlin has seized control of all national television media, ended popular election of local officials, destroyed national political parties and is even beginning a program to teach Russian Orthodoxy in public schools. The Western democracies must increase their vigilance in order to forestall the forces of authoritarianism from seeping outside Russia????????s borders and infiltrating the nations of the former Soviet bloc. It is very clear now that Russia has no intention of letting those nations go without a fight.

Kim Zigfeld publishes the Russia blog La Russophobe.