MUCH ADO ABOUT PUTIN’S TOAST
The Messenger
Nov 26 2009
Georgia
The Georgian media and some politicians have been discussing the
toast Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made during the 80th
birthday celebrations of former Russian PM and well-known public
figure Evgeny Primakov. It was reported that his words, which in fact
remain obscure, were a recommendation as to how to restore Georgia’s
territorial integrity.
Evgeny Primakov spent his childhood and youth in Tbilisi. He has
many friends and relatives here because his late wife was Georgian,
and when on November 16 he celebrated his birthday he invited many
of these. Putin was also there and made his toast. Georgia’s former
President Eduard Shevardnadze has stated that he thinks Putin’s
toast was a hint at something very significant, and something good,
that it is possible to restore relations with Russia. "If we solve
our own problems here, everything will depend on how we take this
chance hinted at by Putin. He is not an ordinary person. The former
President and present Prime Minister of Russia plays the decisive
role in Russian policy today," stated Shevardnadze.
One of the leaders of the National Forum, Gubaz Sanikidze, says almost
the same. He suggests that Putin’s toast was received positively in
Georgia. Maybe it indicated that Russia will agree to the territorial
integrity of Georgia under some preconditions. Putin’s words are a
very serious political message from the Russian leadership, thinks
Sanikidze.
Something was highlighted and we cannot ignore it, says former
Communist functionary Armaz Saneblidze. Commentators also think that
Putin wants to create an image of a constructive partner and convince
the international community of his humanity and desire to be a good
neighbour. Maybe Putin’s toast was pre-prepared. All these comments
are very interesting, but there is serious doubt about whether
Putin really said what has been reported. Maybe his reported words
are a misinterpretation by journalists of the comments of those who
heard them.
Among Georgian children a game called ‘broken telephone’ is very
popular. The first child whispers a word into the second child’s
ear, and he/she in turn whispers the same word to a third child, the
third to a fourth and so on until the line of the maybe ten or more
children ends. The last child says the word he/she received out loud
and it sometimes appears that the first child had said an absolutely
different word. It is possible that the same has happened with Putin’s
toast, passed through the ears of so many reporters before arriving
to Georgia.
Georgia’s former Ambassador to Russia Zurab Abashidze says that he
attended the celebration and Putin said that there is no dead end in
any situation, particularly while such people as Primakov exist.
Abashidze insists that Putin said nothing about the restoration of
Georgia’s territorial integrity and his words have been exaggerated
by journalists. The speculation in the Georgian media is designed to
clean up either Russia’s or Putin’s image and create the idea that
if the Georgian leadership behaves properly Russia will return the
occupied territories. But what would constitute ‘behaving properly?’
Most probably, from the Russian point of view, this means distancing
Georgia from the West.
Maybe the reports of what Putin supposedly said are part of a bigger
game. Georgia plans to reopen the Larsi checkpoint, the only land
connection with Russia, so maybe these reports are being made to
justify this step. Otherwise it would be very difficult to understand
why Georgia is opening its border with a country which occupies 1/5
of its territory. Is this being done only for the sake of Armenia then?
There are many questions which a toast alone will not answer.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
