Georgian lawmakers say Russian double standards in Caucasus helped cause Beslan tragedy
ED JOHNSON
AP Worldstream
Sep 17, 2004
Senior Georgian lawmakers said Thursday that Russia’s failure to
bring stability to the Caucasus, and the Kremlin’s “double standards”
in dealing with separatists there, had contributed to the Beslan
school massacre.
Nino Burdzhanadze, Georgia’s parliament speaker, said the man blamed
for the bloody school siege, Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev,
enjoyed Kremlin support more than a decade ago when he fought Georgian
troops in the breakaway province of Abkhazia.
“What happened in Beslan unfortunately is a reason of double standards
which Russia used every time,” she told journalists during a visit to
London. “You should punish killers and terrorists just immediately. If
you use terrorists, if you use persons like Basayev, one day he will
turn his guns against you … What happened in Beslan was the fault
of Russia, it is absolutely clear,” she added, speaking English.
The school hostage taking, which resulted in more than 330 deaths,
“demonstrated that Russia’s policy to northern Caucasus needs very
fundamental changes and amendments,” said lawmaker David Bakradze. He
urged European countries and the United States to become more active
in the region.
The Caucasus refers to the portion of southern Russia that includes
Chechnya and North Ossetia, where the school attack took place,
as well as the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan. South Ossetia is part of Georgia, while North Ossetia is
a Russian region just across the border.
The lawmakers, who met with British Foreign Office Minister Bill
Rammell, said they were very concerned by Moscow’s threats to strike
at terrorist bases outside Russia’s borders. Russia has repeatedly
complained that Chechen insurgents use Georgia’s rugged Pankisi Gorge
to hide and regroup.
“We are very troubled with those statements,” said Bakradze. “We are
afraid very much that this very idea of fighting against terror could
be used for slightly different purposes by Russian military … This
unpredictability of Russia and absence of democracy in Russia worries
us very much because militaries can make almost any decision that
they want and nobody will be punished.”
Russia and Georgia have had a tense relationship since the breakup
of the Soviet Union, and Georgia has moved to boost its ties with
the European Union and the United States to offset the influence of
its giant neighbor.
Tensions have flared over the fate of Georgia’s separatist regions of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which have enjoyed de facto independence
since breaking away in armed conflicts in the early 1990s. Both have
strong ties to Russia, which Georgia has accused of interference as
Tbilisi seeks to return them to the fold.
The lawmakers repeated President Mikhail Saakashvili’s calls for an
international conference to ease tension in South Ossetia. Russia
wields powerful influence in South Ossetia, where most residents have
been given Russian passports and many want the region to become part
of Russia.
They said Western support was essential to efforts to unite their
fractured country and said European allies could play an important
role in convincing Moscow that a stronger Georgia was not a threat
to Russia.
“We want cooperation with Russia. We have a huge common interest
which is stability in the Caucasus. Russia still acts with a Cold
War mentality in the Caucasus,” said Bakradze, who is chairman of the
parliament’s committee on European integration. He pointed to Moscow’s
unhappiness when the United States deployed between 80 to 100 military
trainers to Georgia to help it cope with fighters in Pankisi Gorge.
“If Georgia is strong we can guarantee security of the southern flank
of Russia,” Bakradze added.
The lawmakers said they wanted Georgia to become an associate member
of the European Union within three years.