THE CAUCASIAN CONFLICT CAN BE ENDED WITHIN DAYS
Sergei Kremlev
1 4.08.2008
What are the prospects of Russia’s policies in the Caucasus following
the rebuff of the Georgian military intervention in South Ossetia
under conditions when according to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov "the current Georgia’s leadership is a special US project"
and the Washington administration has chosen to speak to Moscow in a
master’s voice saying "that Russia should act in a way that…", or
"Russia must do this or that…. " ?
If we were to speak about other things that are not half-measures
rather than about a continuous following the political course
predestined by the course of operation of Georgia’s coercion to peace,
that is about something that Russia does need to do, namely: to give
its consent as soon as possible to make a completely vindicated and
natural as well as a long-ripe decision to satisfy the many-times
repeated requests of the peoples of South Ossetia and the Republic of
Abkhazia about granting them the membership of the Russian Federation.
Let me remind the reader who may have forgotten that within the
Russian Constitution it is legal to extend the Russian Federation by
way of including new territories in the composition of the Russian
state. Article 65-2, Chapter 3, ("The Federal Composition") r eads:"
The incorporation of a new subject of the Russian Federation is to
be effected in the order set out by a federal constitutional law."
The peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia have long been prepared to
get under Russia’s control. In the situation when the Western pressure
on Moscow in the area where the Georgian issue is concerned is going
to grow every day, there is the only way to put an end to it, that is,
based on the inalienable right of self-determination of the Abkhazian
and South Ossetian peoples, to satisfy the pressing requests of the
peoples of these two republics.
For how long would Georgia under Mikhail Saakashvili enjoy its
stripes-and-stars "independence" beseeching for "territorial
integrity" they are making a myth of? Why is Moscow failing to state
unequivocally and resolutely that calls of Tbilisi and Washington for
"the territorial integrity" of the present-day Georgian state within
the boundaries of the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic are
equal to the call for respect of the territorial integrity of the
Russian Federation within the boundaries of the Soviet Union of 1991?
In 2006 I wrote;" Virtually without shooting a single shot we can have
a Caucasus that would be stable and inherently friendly to Russia. We
can have it within a matter of weeks…"
And even today in the current tense situation when shots c ontinue
to sound we can still resolve the problem within 24 hours.
Here’s a tentative algorithm of the (potentially) historic 24 hours:
1) Moscow informs the leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia that
Russia is ready to incorporate them.
2) An extraordinary federal Constitutional Act is to be worked out
installing the order of incorporation of a new subject of the Russian
Federation. Such an act can be produced in just one day.
3) An urgent extraordinary plenary joint session of the two
houses of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation with the
participation of the president, the prime-minister and Russia’s
government is convened to vote in a new federal constitutional law
in three readings, voting in on its basis the incorporation into
the Russian Federation of the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic
of South Ossetia in accordance with the principle of the rights of
nations for self-determination. Given that Georgia seceded from the
USSR making reference to this right proclaimed in 1917 in US President
Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Articles, Abkhazia and South Ossetia have every
right to join the Russian Federation based on this very programme!
4) Russian assault force troops are to be deployed in Abkhazia
and South Ossetia to ensure efficient defence of the new Russian
territories.
5) The leadership of Georgia and all the countries of the world are
warned against any action by force20threatening the security of the
residents of the new Russian territories that would be treated as
an act of aggression against Russia with the full range of ensuing
consequences.
6) The RF Federal Assembly would then appeal to all the Caucasian
nations to express its preparedness to carry out hands-on activities to
ensure peace and stability in the Caucasus, including the preparedness
to incorporate into the new federative Russia both Georgia and Armenia.
These 6 items can become the basis of a long-term programme of settling
all the conflict situations currently developing in the Caucasus.
*** Shortly before he died in Paris, Russian émigré writer Vladimir
Maksimov said:" Should we firmly and resolutely say "Dry up!" once,
they in the West would listen to Russia’s voice. Here in the West
they are getting obedient and urbane very fast, beginning to speak
the normal human language. But should you give in, you can forget
all about mercy from these civilised people. They treat people who
give in shamelessly, losing all sense of decency and respect; and
they would not be satisfied until they do you in."
Vladimir Maksimov knew what he was talking about. These words of his
should be remembered. Should we wait till they do us in first within
the Russian geopolitical space as they are trying to do at present,
and then – if we remain idle, what would be inevitable =E 2 within
the Russian land.
Is it not time for us to say firmly and resolutely:"Dry up!"?
–Boundary_(ID_RrlfnOUM0hO5Jzr/D8zuzw) —