FEW REPORTS OF RUSSIAN WITHDRAWAL IN GEORGIA
Steve Inskeep

National Public Radio
August 18, 2008 Monday
NPR

It’s MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I’m Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

And I’m Renee Montagne.

The Russians promised to start withdrawing their troops from Georgia
today, but there’s little to indicate that this is happening. Western
leaders have warned Russia that it will pay a diplomatic price if
it did not abide by the cease- fire agreement signed with Georgia
last week.

Today, some reports suggest the Russians might have reduced their
presence in the Georgian town of Gori, although they seem to be
controlling an important transportation junction there. NPR’s Ivan
Watson has managed to reach the western part of Georgia, and he joins
us now from the town of Zugdidi. And, Ivan, are you seeing or hearing
any signs of a Russian withdrawal there? This is an opposite end of
the country from South Ossetia and Gori, right?

IVAN WATSON: It is. And, Renee, there have been no signs of a Russian
withdrawal. A Russian military patrol just passed by here in the
downtown area of Zugdidi. In fact, on the drive up along the Black
Sea coast to get here, there were two abandoned Russian vehicles
just left on the side of the road. I presume they may get picked up
at some point.

Last night, residents of the port town of Poti, they said that there
were Russian soldiers at the outskirts to that town. That’s south of
here. And I’ve put in a few calls around Tbilisi and the town of Gori,
and people have said that they have seen no signs that the Russians
are pulling out of entrenched positions that they’ve set up along
the key east-west highway that links the country.

MONTAGNE: Is western Georgia then cut off from the capital and the
rest of the country?

WATSON: Absolutely. The main highway that links this country is
cut off by Russian troops, who have set up checkpoints. So that’s
blocked vehicular traffic. In addition to that, there was a mysterious
explosion on Saturday, Renee, that Moscow has denied any responsibility
for. Basically, it was a huge bomb that blew up a 20-foot span of a
large bridge, a railroad bridge, that runs parallel to the highway.

Railroad workers told me that about 50 trains a day pass over that
bridge. And between the highway being blocked by Russian soldiers and
this mysterious explosion which the Georgian government has blamed on
the Russians, that has basically created a blockade of the Georgian
capital. And it’s extended further, because the neighboring republics
of Azerbaijan and Armenia also rely on this route for trade – for
the export of Azerbaijani oil and for the delivery of supplies,
everything from groceries and foodstuffs to energy products – to
neighboring Armenia.

MONTAGNE: So how did you manage to get there today?

WATSON: We came on a Georgian military helicopter. That’s basically
the only way to get back and forth from the capital to the western
parts of this – what’s really a small country. And as we flew very
low over mountains and through gorges and over farmland, we passed
another Georgian military helicopter coming the opposite direction.

So this is being used the main way to link the country up. I spoke
with a European diplomat yesterday, Renee. He said that already, he’s
seeing signs of the civilian administration here in the western part
of the country is starting to break down with no direct links to the
Georgian capital right now. It’s not clear whether or not that is an
intentional consequence right now of the Russian strategy to occupy
the main road linking the country together.

MONTAGNE: And, Ivan, just briefly, you’re there in the west near
another separatist region: Abkhazia. But it’s looking more and more –
the Russians have certainly said this – that Abkhazia or that South
Ossetia is not going to go back under Georgian control. So has the
government of Mikhail Saakashvili really taken a hit on this?

WATSON: Well, one of the successes that he had had was helping
to centralize Georgia, which really went through a decline in the
1990s. There’s a nearby region called Ajaria, and one of Saakashvili’s
first successes was to kick out a local baron who was pushing for
independence and autonomy and to bring that back under Tbilisi. Now,
that region has been cut off again from Tbilisi. And if this situation
continues, Renee, it puts to risk the centralization, the Georgian
state itself, whether it can continue to exist.

MONTAGNE: Ivan, thank you for keeping us up on this.

WATSON: You’re welcome, Renee.

MONTAGNE: NPR’s Ivan Watson speaking to us from the town of Zugdidi,
in western Georgia.

INSKEEP: You’re hearing him on NPR’s MORNING EDITION, the program
that keeps you in touch with the world.