Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Georgia navy will open fire on trespassing vessels - military


There is a pipeline involved in this.

The Abkhaz strategy is presumably predicated on the assumption that Moscow will continue to uphold the status quo. Up to 70 percent of the Abkhaz have availed themselves of the offer of Russian passports, and the Russian State Duma repeatedly stresses Russia's obligation to protect Russian citizens in other CIS states. But the Russian government may prove less altruistic. Georgian commentators have raised the possibility that Moscow and Tbilisi may have cut a deal under which Moscow would support a formal settlement of the conflict and the repatriation of Georgian displaced persons in exchange for privileges for Russian businessmen wishing to invest in Abkhazia and the construction of an oil-export pipeline from Novorossiisk (on Russia's Black Sea coast) that would link up with the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline currently under construction, according to the daily "Rezonansi" on 27 May. Such a pipeline would provide an alternative export route for Russian oil that avoids the Turkish straits bottleneck. Abkhaz hopes that Russia may at some point recognize Abkhazia as an independent state seem utopian insofar as such recognition would strengthen the Chechens' legal claim to independence.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/06/9581ba62-b615-4a87-a792-22601a7e9c2d.html

-Am



Georgia navy will open fire on trespassing vessels - military


04.08.2004 11:23:00 GMT
Poti. (Interfax) - The Georgian navy is ready to obey President Mikheil Saakashvili's order aimed at preventing any vessels, apart from ships on humanitarian missions that have permission from Georgia's authorities, from entering territorial waters near the self- proclaimed republic of Abkhazia, Koba Bochorishvili, commander of the Poti marine division of the Georgian coast guard service, told Interfax on Wednesday.

"We did receive the president's order that vessels that have violated the border should be stopped in territorial waters near the Abkhaz coasts and that fire should be opened on them if they disobey orders," Bochorishvili said. This warning also applies to passenger boats that could travel from Sochi to Sukhumi, he said.

"Fire should be opened on all vessels that enter the Sukhumi port without the Georgian authorities' agreement. They should be sunk," the Georgian president said at a news conference on Tuesday.

"We will do everything in our power to stop such vessels," he said. "No fire will be opened on people. But there are plenty of ways to disable a trespassing vessel," he said.

The decision to ban ships from entering the closed area near the Abkhaz coasts does not violate agreements on settling the conflict in Abkhazia, Bochorishvili said.

"We have all the modern capabilities, including radar, to detect trespassing vessels. That is why we do not advise anybody to stage blatant provocative acts by entering the territorial waters of another state," he said.

The Georgian navy currently has 40 warships, including missile- carrying vessels. The fleet has been conducting patrol missions along Georgia's sea borders in recent months.

http://www.interfax.com/com?item=Geor&pg=0&id=5745227&req=


Russia warn Georgia against firing at its ships

04.08.2004, 14.30

MOSCOW, August 4 (Itar-Tass) - Any attempts to inflict damage or infringe the lives of Russian citizens “will be adequately rebuffed,” the Russian Foreign Minister said in a statement on Wednesday in connection with Georgia’s threats to open fire at all ships that would appear near the Abkhazian shores.

“The official Tbilisi has made an unprecedented step,” the ministry stated.

“This warning is addressed also to Russian tourists who make excursion trips by sea from Sochi to Novy Afon and Sukhumi.”

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=1099291&PageNum=0