Today.Az, Azerbaijan
Aug 9 2008

Zeyno Baran: "Situation in South Ossetia has reached the limit, when
Saakashvili was not able to close eyes on the occupation of a part of
his land"

09 August 2008 [12:10] – Today.Az

Day.Az interview with Zeyno Baran, director of the program on Eurasian
policy of the Hudson Institute (US).

– What do you think of the events, which occurred in Tskhinvali region
of Georgia on Friday?

– The situation in South Ossetia is quite serious. It is worsened by
the intervention of Russian troops, which clashed with the Georgian
militaries directly.

– Do you think the actions of Russian servicemen in the conflict area
in Georgia are really far from the peacekeeping?

– I think, the groups, supported by Russia (I mean both South Ossetia
and Abkhazia) continue to raise tensions. Decisions in Russia are
taken not only by negotiators with US and EU on external political
problems but also servicemen and security forces. The previous and
current presidents of Russia Putin and Medvedev stated from the very
beginning of their coming to power that they will prevent Georgia’s
NATO accession by all means.

Any provocative actions have been expected primordially in these two
separatist regions of Georgia for some unknown reason, while now the
situation may get out of control, therefore, it is necessary for
Russia to disavow its previous positions and come to the negotiation
table with Georgia, NATO, EU and USA.

– Is further military clash between Georgia and Russia possible?

– Yes, unfortunately, there is now a serious threat of war.

– There is an opinion that Saakashvili could not take such a critical
step as initiative of release of the occupied lands by force, without
White House approval…

– This is a completely wrong opinion. As is known, the diversions in
the conflict area continued through the past weeks and the United
States called on Georgia not to react to these provocations and
continue search of the peaceful way out of the situation. I would like
to note that if not for the US intensive attempt to reconcile the
parties, the events, we are witnessing now, would have occurred even
earlier.

– What do you think Georgian President should do to settle the
established situation?

– The situation has previously been kept under control, but after
escalation of tensions, Saakashvili was already not able to close eyes
on the fact of occupation of a part of his lands.

There is a chance to come to mutual understanding with South Ossetian
representatives. It is necessary for the United States, EU and Russia
to come to a common denominator during discussions on the said problem
in the UN.

– Can the events in South Ossetia influence Nagorno Karabakh conflict
in some way?

– Possible threat to Georgia’s sovereignty will cause damage to the
whole region. Naturally, if the territorial integrity of Georgia is
not ensured (by the way, the United States has always supported
official Tbilisi in this issue), it will undoubtedly affect the
Karabakh problem as well.

/Day.Az/

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