Georgia slams Russia for Abkhazia rail resumption 10 Sep 2004 12:46:45 GMT
Translated: Putin to Bush – “Screw you, slayer of children.”
Source: Reuters
TBILISI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Georgia strongly criticised Russia on Friday for resuming direct railway traffic with its separatist province of Abkhazia, saying it was an attempt by Moscow to "annex" the Black Sea region. The first train left the Abkhaz capital of Sukhumi for Moscow on Friday after an armed conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia in the early 1990s interrupted the Soviet-era link.
"This (the resumption) is tantamount to Russia's annexing of Abkhazia," said Temur Mzhavia, the head of Abkhazia's pro-Georgian Supreme Council, in exile in Tbilisi.
Relations between Georgia and Russia have been tense in recent weeks. Tbilisi claims Moscow backs two separatist regions that President Mikhail Saakashvili, elected in January on promises to restore Georgia's unity, wishes to rein in.
Russia says Georgia's bellicose stance risks triggering a full-scale war in the region where Moscow itself is fighting rebels in Georgia's neighbour Chechnya.
Georgia's State Minister for Conflicts Goga Khaindrava said the new rail link threatened Georgia's sovereignty.
"This is a violation of all international norms and agreements...This is a violation of (Georgia's) sovereignty," he told reporters.
Russia says the rail link is key to boosting trade with Georgia and other Caucasus states. But it has little value for regional oil exports which mainly go through the port of Batumi in the once-restive region of Adzhara taken over by Tbilisi in May.
This should scare the hell out of suicide bombers.
-Am
September 10, 2004
Moscow, Russia, Sep. 10 (UPI) -- Russian lawmakers have proposed reinstating the death penalty as punishment for terrorism, Interfax reported Friday.
Members of the Duma, as the lawmaking body in Russia is known, made the move in the wake of the nation's worst terror attack, the massacre in Beslan last week that killed some 340 people, half of whom were children, said first deputy speaker Lyubov Sliska.
The idea of punishing terrorism with death was raised Thursday at the first meeting of a working group appointed to consider stricter anti-terrorism legislation.
In the second text the United States admits that some Chechen rebels still hide in Georgia but stresses no further military action was needed in Georgia, saying it was "a matter for the internal security services". A conflict so close to the U.S. backed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is definitely not a U.S. priority.
-Am
By Natalia Antelava BBC, Tbilisi
Speculation about a possible Russian military strike is rife in Georgia, in the aftermath of the Beslan school tragedy and the Kremlin's threats to go after "terrorists".
From 1 October no Georgian aircraft will be allowed to land in Russia - the explanation from Moscow being that Georgian airlines have not been paying their airport dues.
But to Tbilisi this is another sign of what many officials say is unprecedented pressure from Russia following the Beslan siege.
Georgians are concerned that Moscow will try to link the school siege in Beslan to Georgia and will carry out its threat of preventive strikes in Georgia, which shares borders with Russia's troubled republics of Ingushetia, Dagestan, North Ossetia and Chechnya.
Statements from Moscow are fuelling the fears.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he does not exclude links between Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia and the events in Beslan, which is only 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Georgian border.
Simmering tensions
Russian media allege that one of the hostage-takers from Beslan is hiding in the Kodori Gorge, in Georgia's other breakaway province - Abkhazia.
Moscow also claims that there are still Chechen "terrorists" in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, on the border with Chechnya.
Pankisi, once a haven for Chechen guerrillas - and some even allege al-Qaeda fighters - has been bombed by Russia in the past.
But Georgia insists that its borders along the snow-capped Caucasus range are now fully under control. The question, according to Deputy Defence Minister David Sikharulidze, is whether Russia will choose to believe this.
"Our border guards are on high alert and we absolutely rule out infiltration of Chechen fighters into Georgia," Mr Sikharulidze says.
"But we know that unfortunately Russia will try to use this school tragedy to try and pursue its own agenda in the Caucasus."
This agenda, Mr Sikharulidze adds, includes destabilising Georgia.
For years, Georgians believe, Russia has done just that by supporting separatist regimes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Saakashvili defiant
Just last week Russia infuriated Tbilisi by resuming a train service between Moscow and Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia.
Analysts believe that Moscow is punishing Georgia for its pro-Western course.
Georgia's aspiration to join Nato, and the presence of US marines, who are training and equipping the Georgian army in Moscow's backyard, are all thorns in Russia's side.
Moscow says President Mikhail Saakashvili's vows to reunite Georgia are stirring up trouble on Russia's borders.
Earlier this summer, Mr Saakashvili sent extra troops into South Ossetia, claiming that it was a haven for smugglers.
The move sparked heavy fighting, which escalated until Georgia withdrew its troops and handed control back to a joint peacekeeping contingent under Russian command.
The Georgian president describes the peacekeepers as "piece-keepers - there to keep the pieces of the old empire and not the actual peace".
In South Ossetia at least, the Soviet empire, and with it the Cold War, does seem to live on.
Soviet nostalgia
Just a month ago, as Georgian and Ossetian forces exchanged fire and shells fell on the capital Tskhinvali, Russia's General Sviatoslav Nabdzorov was drinking vodka in one of Tskhinvali's restaurants.
His eyes filled with tears as he raised his glass to the "Great Soviet Union".
General Nabdzorov's comment about the conflict was much briefer then his long and nostalgic toast.
"Only Russia can sort out this conflict," he said, "not America!"
And so the fear in Tbilisi is that the Beslan school siege will give Russia a free hand to "sort out" the conflicts in the Caucasus, including those in Georgia.
And while President Saakashvili says he hopes to defuse tensions with Russia at a security summit in Kazakhstan this week, he too is flexing his muscles.
Last Sunday, Georgian interior ministry troops launched massive exercises by the South Ossetian border.
"The enemy is only 20 kilometres away," said Georgian Interior Minister Irakli Okruashvili as he saluted his troops. His finger pointed to the north.
U.S. says some Chechen rebels still hide in Georgia 13 Sep 2004 17:34:44 GMT
Source: Reuters
TBILISI, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Chechen rebels with links to international terrorists are still hiding in a remote part of Georgia, the U.S. ambassador said on Monday, backing longstanding accusations by Russia.
Ambassador Richard Miles said the rebels were hiding in the Pankisi Gorge, which Russia has said serves as a base for attacks on Russian forces in Chechnya over the border.
Russia has vowed redoubled efforts against separatists after a series of attacks, including a school siege that killed more than 320 hostages, half of them children. It says it will strike "terrorist bases" abroad and analysts believe that Georgia could be a prime target.
"There are still a few international terrorists in the vicinity of the Pankisi Gorge. Prior to the restoration of Georgian government authority in the Pankisi Gorge, there was what we consider to be a significant handful of international terrorists," Miles told journalists.
"We believe that due to the actions of the Georgian authorities, that number has been significantly diminished, by at least two-thirds."
Russia and Georgia have long disagreed over the issue, with Moscow accusing its small southern neighbour of taking insufficient action to turf out rebel bases.
Two years ago, Georgian authorities said military operations had flushed all rebels from the gorge and objected to any suggestion of Russia taking action of its own.
Tracking down insurgents has taken on a new importance for Russia after the siege and Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has said he believes the United States was well-placed to understand Russian policy after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Miles said no further military action was needed in Georgia, saying it was "a matter for the internal security services".
After meeting Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, Miles said the United States was working with Georgian security forces to find remaining rebels in Pankisi. U.S. military trainers have been helping Georgia modernise its armed forces for more than a year.
There was no word on any joint operation from Georgia, which says there is no proof that rebels are still on its territory.
"There have been no fighters or terrorists in Pankisi for a long time," Interior Minister Irakly Okruashvili said.
Yeah Putin holds us responsible for the deaths of those school children. #msg-4005982
-Am
Russia warns BP it can revoke oil licences Wed 15 September, 2004 13:58 By Andrew Hurst
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has warned that production licences of foreign and domestic oil companies can be torn up at will if the nation's fabulous natural wealth is not exploited on Moscow's terms.
Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said on Wednesday Russia was prepared to withdraw the production licence for one of BP's BP.L biggest projects in the country, the Kovytka gas field, within a month.
"The Resources Ministry will review the possibility of withdrawing the Kovytka licence within a month," Trutnev told Reuters in Irkutsk.
Although analysts believed it was highly unlikely the authorities would carry out the threat, they said it was a sign Moscow is prepared to lean on even the most favoured foreign investors if it feels it can extract better conditions.
BP last year acquired a 49 percent stake in Russia's fourth largest oil company, TNK, with the personal blessing of President Vladimir Putin. It established a joint venture, now called TNK-BNP.
Trutnev said the ministry was unhappy BP-TNK had failed to invest in infrastructure in the Kovytka field. Analysts say the real reason for the spat is that state gas concern Gazprom GAZPPE.RTS wants a bigger role for itself in the venture.
Trutnev also turned up the heat on beleaguered Russian oil major YUKOS YOKO.RTS , saying it could be stripped of a licence held by its West Siberian unit Yuganskneftegaz, which alone produces one million barrels of crude a day, or 60 percent of YUKOS' output.
The muscle-flexing appeared to reflect a more uncompromisingly strident mood in the Russian leadership.
Earlier Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov curtly told the United States to mind its own business after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell criticised Putin's plans to strengthen Kremlin power after a string of terror attacks in Russia.
"Russia is increasingly confident they can do what they want with their natural resources and will develop them on their terms," said Al Breach, an economist at UBS in Moscow.
SUKHOI LOG TENDER POSTPONED
Trutnev also said it would postpone a tender for rights to mine Siberia's vast Sukhoi Log gold deposit until next year and may bar foreigners from bidding.
"The new natural resources law .., will include an option to limit foreign participation in tenders for unique deposits -- such as Sukhoi Log and Ukokan (a copper deposit)," said Trutnev.
Trutnev's remarks followed Tuesday's announcement by state gas monopoly Gazprom GAZPPE.RTS that it is to merge with a smaller state oil company, Rosneft, to create a government-run energy champion to vie with private firms which dominate Russia's oil industry.
"This could create a perception that the government is trying to increase its control over the (oil) sector," said Elena Anankina, an analyst at Standard & Poor's in Moscow, referring to Trutnev's remarks and the Gazprom-Rosneft merger.
Anankina said she doubted whether YUKOS, which has been ordered to pay nearly $7 billion in back taxes, would lose its Yugansk licence because of the technical difficulties in carrying through such an order without disrupting production.
"There is equipment on an oilfield and this belongs to someone. You can't just close down operators over night. It's tricky," she said.
Trutnev appeared determined to make clear that he was not making a hollow threat.
"Any decision to revoke the licence will cause no harm to the Russian economy, nor will there be any negative consequences in terms of lost oil production," he said. "For example there could be a transfer of management."
Wednesday's move appeared to be a final warning to a group of core shareholders in YUKOS, including its jailed former chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky, to surrender control or face the complete dismemberment of the company he created.
Bailiffs want to sell Yugansk to recover YUKOS's tax arrears and have hired investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein to put a value on the assets.
Maskhadov praises Georgia’s friendly ties with Chechnya
“My representatives and assistants in Georgia have informed me that the Georgian leadership and Georgian government representatives have no objection to the presence of our refugees on their territory. On the contrary, they are helping them, they are willing to help,” Maskhadov said.
Basayev is currentlyl working with Maskadov who currently working with Akhmadov who has been granted asylum by the United States, as Chechen rebels they are all under the al-Qaeda umbrella.
Akhmadov was reappointed this month . (August 2004) to the foreign minister-in-exile position by Aslan Maskhadov. #msg-3959917
Bush is harboring a Chechen terrorist. Georgia’s Saakashvili, well known to be Bush’s puppet, would not be harboring Chechen rebels or refugees without Bush’s approval.
"We put this question before the Georgian leadership and it agreed with the necessity of solving the problem of terrorists using Georgian territory as a staging post and place to relax after their despicable work," Lavrov said in the interview. #msg-4005982
Chechen rebels with links to international terrorists are still hiding in a remote part of Georgia, the U.S. ambassador said on Monday, backing longstanding accusations by Russia. #msg-4031919
-Am
Georgia’s Saakashvili Denies Friendly Ties With Chechen Rebels Created: 29.09.2004 11:49 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 11:51 MSK, 5 hours 8 minutes ago
MosNews
“Most Chechen field commanders have their hands stained with blood of ethnic Georgians who live in Abkhazia. Therefore, those people are no friends of ours. God save us from such friends. As regards to our enemies, we will get rid of them ourselves,” President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili said in response to Aslan Maskhadov’s statement broadcast on Georgian TV.
The footage first shown by Georgia’s Mze TV was shown on Tuesday on Russia’s Channel 3 TV. “I know things will not be easy for the president of Georgia,” the leader of Chechen separatists said. “I know what to expect of Russia and I know how to resist Russia. I hope the Georgian president and people will have the patience and endurance to truly uphold their interests.”
Maskhadov spoke in Russian, and he was filmed against the background of the green flag of the self-style independent Republic of “Ichkeria”.
“My representatives and assistants in Georgia have informed me that the Georgian leadership and Georgian government representatives have no objection to the presence of our refugees on their territory. On the contrary, they are helping them, they are willing to help,” Maskhadov said.
The Channel 3 commentator noted that Mze TV had shown this footage at the time of the terrorist attacks against two Russian passenger jets — Tu-134 and Tu-154 — that blew up in mid-air killing nearly 90 people on 24 August. Both planes are believed to have been destroyed by female suicide bombers.
“Most Chechen field commanders have their hands stained with blood of Georgian population of Abkhazia. Therefore, those people are no friends of ours,” Mikhail Saakashvili told a news briefing on Tuesday evening, commenting on Maskhadov’s statement.
Saakashvili reiterated Georgia’s pledge to cooperate in Russia in combating terrorism. “Not long ago the National Security Minister of Georgia met with the directors of FSB (Federal Security Service) and SVR (foreign intelligence service) of Russia. We have no secrets from Russian security services in what concerns combating terrorism,” the Georgian leader told a news briefing on Tuesday evening.
“We carry out joint inspection flights over our borders. At our initiative we have arranged for joint patrolling of the borders so that no armed person could cross the border not only from Georgia into Russia, but also from Russia into Georgia,” the president said. “The sooner Russia introduces order in its territory the better people in Georgia will sleep,” Saakashvili concluded.
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