War clouds gather in Georgian spy crisis
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
(Filed: 30/09/2006)
The crisis in the Caucasus escalated last night as Georgia accused Russia of advancing troops towards its borders after four Russian army officers were charged with spying.
Officers check papers at Russian Army headquarters in Tbilisi as Russia evacuates staff and their families
The worst breakdown in relations between the two ex-Soviet neighbours in 15 years seemed to worsen hour by hour on a day of high drama.
Flouting Kremlin demands for their immediate release, a Tbilisi court ordered the four Russian servicemen, whose arrest on Wednesday ostensibly triggered the crisis, to be detained for a further two months.
Georgian troops seeking a fifth officer, Lt Col Konstantin Pichugin, surrounded the headquarters of the Russian Army Group in the capital Tbilisi for a third day.
The crisis erupted when Georgia arrested the men, claiming they were members of a "very dangerous" network that had spied on the military, caused an explosion that had killed three policemen, and was planning a "serious provocation" on Georgian soil.
Georgian officials released a video which they said showed the men discussing military bases with Georgian citizens and exchanging money.
Vyacheslav Kovalenko, the Russian ambassador, said the evidence made public so far was not proof the officers were spies.
In response, Russia, which recalled its ambassador to Georgia the previous day and banned Georgians from travelling to the country, evacuated 84 diplomats and members of their families, a move some newspapers in Moscow speculated could be the prelude to war.
Vano Merabishvili, the Georgian interior minister, said Russian troops had redeployed closer to the border and claimed that Russia's Black Sea Fleet was planning "manoeuvres" in the next few days.
Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili
"I would advise our colleagues to stop sabre-rattling," he said. "This is unacceptable for a democratic country."
Nato was also dragged into the row after Sergei Ivanov, the Russian defence minister, accused unidentified eastern European members of illegally providing Georgia with Soviet weapons.
Relations between the two countries have worsened sharply since Mikhail Saakashvili swept to power during the Rose Revolution of 2003, promising to bolster Georgia's ties with the West.
Mr Saakashvili declared his intent to restore Georgia's territorial integrity, raising fears in Moscow for the future of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway regions with Kremlin supported de-facto administrations that fought separatist wars in the early 1990s.
Georgia has accused Russian peacekeepers stationed in both regions of backing rebel forces.
Mr Ivanov claimed that the Saakashvili government had arrested the four Russian officers as a pretext to justify re-occupying the two territories.
"It is absolutely clear to us that Georgia has chosen the military path, the forceful path, for resolving the conflicts in South Ossetia and Akhazia," Mr Ivanov said yesterday.
Russia's reaction to the arrests also has to be seen in the context of an agreement reached by Nato last week to begin accession talks with Georgia.
Soviet attitudes to Nato have never really died, with many Russians failing to understand the necessity of its continued existence since the demise of the Warsaw Pact.
Many politicians believe there is a Nato plot to encircle Russia and are fundamentally opposed to the idea of ex-Soviet states joining the body.
Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, infuriated the Kremlin yesterday when he said Russia had no say in whether Georgia should join Nato. "Nato membership really is a decision for individual countries and not for countries other than the individual countries," he said.
Despite the alarming rhetoric, most analysts believe that both sides will shy away from war.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...wgeorgia30.xml
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