GEORGIAN SEPARATISTS PLEDGE COOPERATION AGAINST "MILITARY THREATS"

Interfax News Agency
April 15 2008
Russia

Sukhumi, 15 April: The presidents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
Sergey Bagapsh and Eduard Kokoyty, have said that Georgia’s increased
military expenditures represent a threat to their republics and that
they intend to work together to repel existing threats.

"Why is Georgia arming itself? – not against Russia, Armenia or
Azerbaijan. It will go to war against South Ossetia and Abkhazia. We
must be untied if a military threat emerges in one of our republics
– Abkhazia, South Ossetia or Dniester," S. Bagapsh said on Tuesday
[15 April] at a joint news conference in Sukhumi.

He said that all the actions of the leadership of the unrecognized
republics are directed at ensuring the security of their peoples.

"We also have friends and well-wishers. We are pinning our hopes on
the Russian Federation and we do not hide this. What Russia is doing
today in relation to Abkhazia and South Ossetia is part of a great
scheme which is called mutual assistance," S. Bagapsh stressed.

For his part, E. Kokoyty said that Georgia’s increased military
expenditures "cannot be a source of pride for Georgia, which has no
neighbouring states that would threaten its security".

"This speaks to a state’s weakness and to the fact that it does not
have the political and legal grounds to convince its everyone of its
rightness," Kokoyty said.

He also expressed his confidence that the existing conflicts cannot
be resolved through military means.

"It would be better if the Georgian leadership had instead spent these
billions on the social needs of Georgian farmers, who periodically
hold protest rallies in the streets of the Georgian capital,"
E. Kokoyty said.