Spat over plans for Russian visit to Georgia raises tension
By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI

The Associated Press
02/16/05 16:24 EST

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) – Tension rose ahead of Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov’s planned trip to Georgia, as officials in the ex-Soviet
republic assailed him for refusing to visit a monument to Georgians
who died in fighting against separatist regions that have close
Russian ties.

Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Gomiashvili said the ministry
called the Russian ambassador in to explain after Russian authorities
asked Georgia to change the program of Lavrov’s visit, saying he would
not visit the memorial to Georgians who died fighting separatists in
Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Lavrov is due to arrive Thursday. In meetings Friday, he is to
discuss military disputes, border demarcation, the prospects for
a broad treaty outlining relations between Russian and Georgia and
other issues in relations between the neighbors, which are marred by
persistent mutual recriminations.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia have run their own affairs since separatist
wars in the early 1990s, and the Georgian government views Georgians
killed in the fighting as heroes who died for the country’s territorial
integrity.

Russia has close ties with both separatist regions, and has granted
the majority of their citizens Russian citizenship in what Georgian
authorities say is part of a Russian strategy to keep Georgia
fragmented and unstable. Disputes over the breakaway regions are a
major source of tension between Russia and Georgia.

Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili lashed out at Russia
at a news conference, saying that the refusal to visit the memorial
“adds to all the steps that throw many things between us into doubt.”

“We don’t know what Russia wants,” she said. “What does a country want
that comes to on a friendly visit and foes not have the elementary
maturity to bow its head before the fallen?” she said.

The chairman of Georgia’s parliamentary committee on foreign relations
called the refusal a “bad political sign” and likened it to a foreign
official visiting Russia and refusing to make the customary visit
to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin. “It would be
impossible to offend a country more,” he said.

Lavrov, in Armenia on Wednesday, said the dispute would not create
artificial barriers for progress in his talks in Georgia, the Interfax
news agency reported. He said that the suggestion that he visit the
memorial came at the last minute and that it would be ill-advised to
do so because of high emotions surrounding the issue.