RECOGNITION A LONELY EXERCISE FOR MOSCOW
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer
The Moscow Times
Sept 5 2008
Russia
Ten days after Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as
independent states, the only other country to have followed suit as
of Thursday was that Cold War battlefield of the 1980s: Nicaragua.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s announcement this week of his
Central American nation’s recognition of the breakaway Georgian regions
was a "pleasant surprise," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday.
Closer to home, however, Russia’s allies among former Soviet republics
have remained reticent on the issue.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-led alliance of
seven former Soviet republics that Moscow hopes will evolve into a
full-fledged military bloc, issued a statement Thursday criticizing
Georgia’s military campaign — which was crushed by Russia — but
making no mention of the Kremlin’s recognition of South Ossetia
and Abkhazia.
Their silence on recognition could change Friday, when the heads of the
alliance’s member states — Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan — are to meet in Moscow for a summit.
But so far it’s just Managua, where the socialist leader was actively
supported by the Soviet Union three decades ago. Ortega on Tuesday
announced that his country would back independence for the rebel
regions.
"This was a pleasant surprise," Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor
Lyakin-Frolov said.
He added that Moscow was not pressuring other governments on the
issue and took a swipe at the United States to make his point.
"We, unlike the United States, give every country a chance to make
its own decision," Lyakin-Frolov said.
Nicaraguan Deputy Foreign Minister Manuel Coronel Kautz told
RIA-Novosti on Thursday that his ministry is drawing up the documents
to recognize the regions and will send them to the parliament for
ratification.
Following Moscow’s Aug. 26 recognition of Abkhaz and South Ossetian
independence, expectations ran high that at least some of the Moscow’s
allies — above all Belarus — would follow suit and not leave Moscow
on its own.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has supported Moscow in
the conflict with Georgia, telling President Dmitry Medvedev in
an Aug. 28 letter that Russia had no choice but to recognize the
separatist republics.
But a Belarussian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said by telephone from
Minsk on Thursday that the letter "does not exactly mean that Belarus
is recognizing them."
She said her ministry had so far received no presidential order to
begin the process of recognizing their independence.
Back in Nicaragua’s neighborhood, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
said on Aug. 30 that Russia was "right" to support independence for
the two regions.
But there have been no reports that Venezuela, to whom Russia has
sold $3.5 billion worth of arms in recent years, would also offer
recognition, despite the close personal ties Chavez has developed
with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, Russia last week attempted — and failed — to win support
from its Central Asian allies on Abkhaz and South Ossetian independence
at Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tajikistan.
The organization offered only a general defense of Russia’s actions
in the Caucasus.
Analysts said it was unrealistic for Medvedev to expect the
organization, in which China plays a leading role, to support Moscow’s
position on independence given Beijing’s own concerns over its own
separatist Tibet and Xinjiang provinces.
Furthermore, most former Soviet republics are being courted intensely
by the United States, which is offering massive investment and
political backing as they integrate into the global economy.
The Kremlin might be better off looking for support not only among
its traditional former Soviet allies, but also among countries at
odds with the United States, said Sergei Mikheyev, an analyst with
the Center for Political Technologies.
Belarus, Venezuela and Syria would fit the bill, Mikheyev said.