Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 1, 2004, Monday
TBILISI HAS CLOSED THE BORDER FOR RUSSIAN DRAFTEES[]
SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 29, 2004, p. 5
by Yury Simonyan
Around 400 Russian servicemen currently wait for Georgian visas in the
Armenian city of Gyumri. They must be sent to the 62nd military base in
Akhalkalaki. The command of the Russian group of forces in the
Trans-Caucasian region has repeatedly asked the Georgian Foreign
Ministry to speed up the process of issuing visas to the Russian
servicemen. Colonel Vladimir Kuparadze, deputy commander of the Russian
group of forces in the Trans-Caucasian region, said that the delay is
caused by formalism of the Georgian Foreign Ministry, which
scrupulously verified the list and the actual number of draftees.
Colonel Kuparadze said: “The Georgian Foreign Ministry’s hesitation is
caused by the fact that we intend to completely deploy the military
base. We previously lacked servicemen at the base, and intend to send
more soldiers to Georgia. At the same time, we do not violate the
agreements with the Georgian leadership. We have submitted all
documents required for issuing visas to the Georgian leadership. This
is a scheduled rotation of Russian servicemen. Our soldiers wait for a
permit to enter Georgia in Gyumri.”
The Georgian Foreign Ministry party confirmed the information announced
by the Russian group of forces. The Foreign Ministry stated: “We are
verifying the compliance of the documents submitted by the Russian
military with the agreements signed by the Georgian leadership.” At the
same time, the source in the Georgian ministry did not say when the
problem will be resolved. He noted that this procedure takes much time:
“This is routine, which takes time. However, we have already issued
some visas to Russian servicemen.”
In the meantime, the Georgian Defense Ministry intends to replace its
peacekeeping contingent in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.
Georgia reported its intention to Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov,
commander of the peacekeeping force. It should be noted that the staff
of the peacekeeping force does not object against Georgia’s intention.
The Russian general said: “We do not protest despite the fact that
rotation must take place once every six months. The rotation of the
Russian and Ossetian battalions will take place according to the
schedule.”
However, Tskhinvali’s opinion regarding the impending (fifth) rotation
of the Georgian peacekeeping contingent is somewhat different. Boris
Chochiyev, co-chairman of the joint monitoring commission (South
Ossetia), stated: “We are sure that such frequent rotations of
peacekeeping contingents are part of a reconnaissance operation on the
eve of aggression against South Ossetia. Over 2,000 Georgian servicemen
have already examined this theater of war as a result of a range of
rotations.”
Translated by Alexander Dubovoi