Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part B (Russia)
June 21, 2005, Tuesday

TANKS WILL GO TO ABKHAZIA

SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, June 21, 2005, p. 5
by Yuri Simonjan

Lieutenant-General Valery Yevnevich, Ground Forces Second-in-Command
in charge of peacekeeping operations, currently on a visit to
Georgia, has announced a new route for the withdrawal of Russian
military bases from Georgia. This concerns Abkhazia, a region no one
regarded as the potential route until now. The Defense Ministry
initially intended to withdraw the troops and military hardware to
Armenia and – via the Batumi port – to Russia. Yevnevich said,
however, that Russia would make use of Abkhazian roads because the
Military Georgian Highway was too complicated a route.

Yevnevich’s statement became public knowledge due to Kakhi Ardia,
Presidential Envoy in Samegrelo-Zemo Svanetia. “General Yevnevich
assured me that not a single armored vehicle would remain in
Abkhazia,” Ardia said. “He said that withdrawing military hardware
via the Military Georgian Highway is practically impossible.”

Georgy Volsky, Deputy State Minister for Conflict Resolution, calls
Yevnevich’s statement irrational and politically short-sighted. “The
Russian Defense Ministry may make this decision, but it will only
generated additional tension in our relations,” Volsky said. “I was
present at the talks in Moscow, and the Abkhazian route was not even
mentioned then. Only the transfer of some military hardware to the
Russian base in Gyumri, Armenia, was mentioned. All the rest was
supposed to be pulled out to Russia via Batumi.”

Yevnevich visited South Ossetia before going to Tbilisi. The
situation there noticeably deteriorated last week. Georgia and South
Ossetia blame each other for the escalation of tension, and the head
of North Ossetia Teimuraz Mamsurov even proposed a reunification of
the Ossetian people. Volsky described his statement as an attempt to
incite unrest.

Official Tskhinvali was annoyed by an interview with Vaja
Khachapuridze, South Ossetian Presidential Envoy, with Imkedi (a
Georgian TV channel) where he did not rule out the possibility of the
return of the restive republic to Georgian jurisdiction. South
Ossetian authorities immediately denounced the statement and
emphasized that “membership of South Ossetia in Georgia, with
whatever status, is not even considered.”

Translated by A. Ignatkin

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress