Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part A (Russia)
September 15, 2004, Wednesday

THE OPPONENT IS TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE

SOURCE: Kommersant, September 14, 2004, p. 9

by Vladimir Novikov, Sergei Kisin, Gennady Sysoev

Moscow and Tbilisi are on the brink of open conflict again.
Yesterday, Georgian authorities accused Russia of planning a
transport blockade of Georgia. Tbilisi alleges that this is how
Moscow plans to keep Georgia within Russia’s sphere of influence.

Actual blockade

Yesterday, the Transport and Communication Ministry of Georgia
reported that it received an unexpected notification from Russia
about an upcoming halt to practically all transport relations with
Georgia. From September 15, Russia is banning the entry of automotive
vehicles from Georgia and from October 1 Russian airspace will be
closed to Georgian airlines. Yesterday, Georgian transport companies
have already started offering the passengers to return the previously
purchased tickets and get refunds.

The formal pretext for introduction of an air blockade of Georgia is
the fact that some Georgian airlines owe large sums to Russia.
However, Russian airspace is also closed for the airlines having no
debts and even for the airlines that have transit flights to European
countries. Naturally, Georgia will be able to use alternative air
corridors but the costs of air transportation will grow
significantly.

Tbilisi authorities remark that stopping of the bus communication
(and maritime communication from Batumi and Poti) is not motivated at
all. There is no railway communication between Russia and Georgia and
the latest decisions of Moscow mean complete stopping of transport
communications with Georgia. Along with this, transport
communications between Russia and Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which
have declared independence from Russia, is dramatically increased.

Political commuter train

The first commuter train since the suspension of railway links with
the breakaway republic of Abkhazia in 1992 departed from Sochi to
Sukhumi yesterday at 4.52 p.m.

According to a source in Russian Railways (RZHD), the rapid opening
of railway links between Russia and Abkhazia is due primarily to
political reasons, namely cooling down of the Russian-Georgian
relations due to the conflict in South Ossetia. Hence, restoration of
the 146-kilometer railway to Sukhumi was accelerated. RZHD invested
approximately 200 million rubles in this project and sent the
commuter train last week. Along with this, the source said that there
was such haste that finishing of Sukhumi railway station was not
completed. On the side of the railway the building in painted in
white and on the side of the near-the-station square the building
retained traces of the fire that happened ten years ago.

According to the PR service of the North Caucasian Railway, due to
restoration of the railway a commuter train will cover the distance
from Sukhumi to Sochi just in 4 hours and 43 minutes. Depending on
the season, the train will have from six to ten carriages. It is
expected that the carriages will be filled by approximately 50-60%
and the price of a ticket will be 45 rubles or a few times cheaper
than the price of a bus ticket for the same route. Representatives of
the North Caucasian Railway do not hide that they do not doubt that
the railway would be unprofitable but say that “political benefit
from the commuter train overweighs any money.”

“Of all mortal sins”

Decisions of Moscow caused serious concern of Tbilisi. Tbilisi
authorities are afraid that harsh measures may also be applied to the
energy sector. Georgian authorities have more than enough reasons to
worry.

Tbilisi noticed that the visit of Deputy CEO of RAO EES Rossii Andrei
Rappoport to Tbilisi was recently postponed indefinitely without any
sensible explanation. The visit of a delegation of representatives of
Georgian energy companies to Moscow was also postponed. In Moscow the
delegation hoped to meet with the management of Gazprom and to come
to agreement on gas supplies in the autumn-winter period. Supplies of
electric energy to Georgia from the Inguri hydro power station
located in Abkhazia was interrupted yesterday unexpectedly and
resulted in a complete collapse of the electric energy system of
Georgia. For a few hours the whole country drowned in darkness.

Yesterday, State Minister Georgy Khaindrava flew to Moscow according
to the order of Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvaniya to meet with
officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Security Council.
Before departure to the Russian capital Khaindrava said bitterly,
“Someone in Russia accuses us of all mortal sins, nearly of planning
of the terrorist act in Beslan and September 11 in New York. That is
why there is a need to meet with Russian colleagues. We will also
discuss the illegal restarting of railway communication between
Abkhazia and Russia.”

After arrival to Moscow Khaindrava said that announcement of a
transport blockade to Georgia by Russia is an attempt to direct
unregulated Russian-Georgian political relations to the economic
area. The Georgian minister adds, “We do not understand what is
happening and what has caused all this. We are under political press
and will most likely be exposed to economic pressure too.”

Tbilisi authorities presume that the latest decisions of Russia that
hit on Georgian economy painfully pursue several goals. First, Russia
wants to force Tbilisi to agree with opening of the through railway
communication between Russia and Armenia, its strategic partner in
the region (to date, Georgian has rigidly connected with issue with
return of Georgian refugees to Abkhazia rejected by Sukhumi
authorities). Second, Russia wants to correct the situation that has
appeared after Georgian authorities have closed the administrative
border with South Ossetia. As a result, the uncontrollable glow of
goods from Russia to Georgia practically stopped in the South
Ossetian territory, which incurred big losses on the South Ossetian
budget and Moscow (especially after the tragedy in Beslan) should
react to requests of the Ossetian party about the “response
measures.”

In general, Tbilisi authorities say that the unprecedented steps of
Moscow show that Russian authorities have finally adopted a course at
preserving of Georgia in the orbit of Russia’s influence by all
means. Taking into account strategic partnership with Armenia,
preserving of Georgia in Russia’s orbit of influence would enable
Russia to control Transcaucasia in general.

Hence, negotiations on the deadlines for withdrawal of Russian armed
forces from Georgia are postponed indefinitely. Due to the same
reason President Vladimir Putin demonstratively meets in Dagomys with
Abkhazian Prime Minister Raul Khadzhimba, the most realistic
candidate for the post of the president of the breakaway republic.
Finally that is why Moscow is persistently hinting on the need for
Georgia to return to the system of the collective security treaty
organization (Tbilisi quit the organization in 1999) and at solving
of Georgia’s economic problems not through alienation from Russia and
closing of the economic border in its South Ossetian part but, on the
contrary, through integration into the pro-Russian economic and
political structures like Eurasian Economic Community and Customs
Union.

Translated by Pavel Pushkin