Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 3, 2004, Friday

COST OF THE MATTER

SOURCE: Kommersant, August 31, 2004, p. 9

by Gennadi Sysoev

VLADIMIR PUTIN’S MEETING WITH RAOUL KHADZHIMBA: MOSCOW INDICATES THAT
IT CONSIDERS ABKHAZIA A ZONE OF ITS SPECIAL INTERESTS

No matter what official announcements may claim, President Vladimir
Putin did not meet with prime minister of Abkhazia and candidate for
president to discuss social position of veterans of World War II. The
meeting was instantly interpreted as Moscow’s support of Khadzhimba
running for president. The reasoning is simple: Abkhazia is a small
republic, the news that the premier met with the president of Russia
will spread immediately, and the population will know who to vote for
on October 3.

All of that is undeniably so. There is, however, more to the meeting
than meets the eye. Organizing it, official Moscow indicates that it
considers at least Abkhazia a zone of its special interest.

The road connecting Russia with Armenia, its major ally in the
Caucasus, runs through Abkhazia. Not far from Gudauta (Abkhazia)
there is the strategic airfield which specialists call unique:
aircraft taking off there are practically invisible to NATO radars in
Turkey. Krasnaya Polyana, the southern residence of the Russian
president is in Abkhazia, not far from the Psou River. Abkhazian
leaders regularly remind the Kremlin that if Tbilisi takes over, NATO
will immediately install its ELINT station on the Psou. Last but not
the least, there are financial considerations as well. Russia bought
a great deal of property in Abkhazia in the last several years, and
Georgian politicians’ statements on a redistribution of property in
Abkhazia make Moscow wary.

There is even more. Moscow needs to retain its clout with Georgia
because along with its strategic partnership with Armenia it will
ensure its clout with the Caucasus in general. And the Kremlin hopes
to retain its clout with Georgia through control over Abkhazia.

Formally, Moscow is unlikely to dispute territorial integrity of
Georgia, the country Abkhazia is officially a part of. That is why
Abkhazia is not going to become a part of Russia. Still, it is not
necessary. Sufficient that practically all population of Abkhazia are
citizens of Russia. From Moscow’s point of view, it permits it to
take care of Abkhazia.

Georgia may refuse to put up with it and even return to drawing
parallels between Abkhazia and Chechnya. Or may ask what its Defense
Minister Georgy Baramidze asked: why is it all right for Russia to
defend its borders but when Georgia is going the same thing it is
called aggression? Moscow has an answer to that: there are no
citizens of Georgia in Chechnya, and Abkhazians do not blow up
Georgian planes.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress