Tbilisi Downplays Moscow’s Statement on S.Ossetia Self-Determination

Russia made it clear that breakaway South Ossetia’s right to self-determination is not “a less important internationally recognized principle” than Georgia’s territorial integrity – a statement which officials in Tbilisi consider part of Moscow’s well-planned campaign to trigger destabilization in the region with the ultimate goal of hindering Georgia’s move towards integration into NATO.

In a statement issued on June 1 the Russian Foreign Ministry also said that although it respects the principal of territorial integrity, in respect to Georgia, this state of affairs “is more a possible condition than an existing political-legal reality.”

“And the creation of this [real territorial integrity] is only possible through difficult negotiations,” the Russian Foreign Ministry added.

These statements immediately triggered concern in Tbilisi.

“Speculations regarding the self-determination principle pose a threat to its [Russia’s] territorial integrity itself against the background of Russia’s historic experience,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a response on June 1.

An escalation of tensions in the South Ossetian conflict zone, where the situation has been relatively calm over the past four months, began on May 27 when the Georgian police – in what appears to be an overreaction for the brief detention of several ethnic Georgian’s by the Ossetian side – arrested dozens of ethnic Ossetian civilians. The incident was immediately followed by the detention of four Georgians by the South Ossetian militias.

Eventually all the detainees from both sides were released on May 28, but this series of incidents coincided with the launch of a rotation of the Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone, which triggered a new wave of accusations between Tbilisi and Moscow. The Georgian side has accused the Russian side of sending extra troops to breakaway South Ossetia under the pretext of rotating its peacekeepers the.

Influential Georgian lawmaker Kote Gabashvili, who chairs the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs, says that the recent incidents in South Ossetia, including the “so called rotation” and statements regarding South Ossetia’s right to self-determination are steps which Russia thinks will trigger Tbilisi to use force to restore control over the breakaway region.

“All these provocations are a response by Russia towards our NATO aspiration; but we will not yield to these provocations, which, according to our information, may repeatedly occur throughout the summer,” MP Gabashvili told Civil Georgia on June 2.

The Georgian authorities are now boasting about a declaration passed by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly at a session in Paris on May 30, which recommends that the governments from the NATO member states launch an Intensified Dialogue with Georgia this summer.

MP Gabashvili also downplayed Russia’s statements about the self-determination principle and said, “it is ruled out that Russia will recognize South Ossetia.”

MP Gabashvili assumed that Russia’s statement about South Ossetia’s right to self-determination only aimed at provoking Georgia to undertake hasty steps in respect to South Ossetia.

Political analyst Shalva Pichkhadze also says that statements of these kinds are “only threats, rather than a precondition for recognition of South Ossetia.”

“It is a part and continuation of Russia’s policy of universality, announced by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in respect to applying Kosovo’s precedent to other secessionist conflicts,” Pichkhadze told Civil Georgia on June 2.

But in an interview published by the Georgian daily 24 Saati (24 Hours) Russian military analyst Pavel Felgengauer suggests that “everything aims at war.”

“There is a great possibility that a military confrontation will be launched this summer,” Felgengauer said.

But MP Kote Gabashvili says that Georgia will not let the situation spiral out of control.

“I am sure that the current tensions will defuse in a few days and the status quo will be restored,” he told Civil Georgia.

MP Gabashvili also said that Tbilisi is very cautious about enforcing the Georgian Parliament’s February 15 resolution, which instructs the Georgian government to replace the current Russian-led peacekeeping operation in the South Ossetian conflict zone.

“Some may ask: ‘why don’t we do this quickly?’ Because we do not want a military confrontation to be triggered by this possible withdrawal of the Russian peacekeepers and we are trying to achieve this through diplomacy,” MP Gabashvili said.

He said that the time has not yet come for Georgia to withdraw from the 1992 Sochi agreement with Russia – the treaty on which the current peacekeeping and negotiating process is based – “as it might still prove useful for us.”

“For example, during the upcoming donors’ conference in Brussels,” MP Gabashvili added.

It is expected that donor countries will pledge EUR 10 million for economic and infrastructure rehabilitation programs in the South Ossetian conflict zone at the Brussels conference.