Russia Tries to Create ‘Illusion of War’ – Tbilisi Says

Russia is orchestrating attempts to create “an illusion of war” aimed at derailing increasing international efforts to revive the peace process, Temur Iakobashvili, the Georgian state minister for reintegration, said on August 4.

He said that recent tensions in South Ossetia, combined with the Abkhaz side’s refusal to take part in talks, were designed to delay the renewal of the peace process.

“All these are being done in order to derail the peace process in which the international community is becoming increasingly involved,” Iakobashvili said. 

He said that “old tricks” used by Moscow to stall the process were becoming less effective, “so now attempts are underway to artificially fuel tensions.”

“Actions are being undertaken to create an illusion of large-scale armed conflict, as if war is immenent,” he continued. “And the most regrettable thing in this situation is that the Russian Foreign Ministry is obviously orchestrating and facilitating this process. Yesterday they issued a statement, which was in fact a pre-announcement of [possible] war in advance.”

Iakobashvili was referring to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s August 3 statement in which it said: “The threat of large-scale military actions between Georgia and South Ossetia is becoming more real.”

The Georgian state minister also said that the Abkhaz side’s refusal to take part in a meeting with the UN Secretary General’s Group of Friends was also part of this, as he put it, “tactic of playing for time” and an attempt to stall the peace process.

Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh said on August 3 that Sokhumi would not take part in a meeting with the Group of Friends in Berlin in August, citing recent tensions in the South Ossetian conflict zone. “We will watch how events develop in South Ossetia and if the situation gets better we may revise our decision,” Bagapsh added.

Iakobashvili said that citing the situation in South Ossetia was just “a pretext” for Sokhumi and Moscow.

Authorities in breakaway South Ossetia said six people were killed by sniper fire and shelling in Tskhinvali and nearby Ossetian villages late on August 1 and overnight on August 2. About 15 people were injured on the South Ossetian side; the Georgian side said one policeman and six civilians were injured as a result of shelling of Georgian villages in the conflict zone.

Authorities of the breakaway region said that they had started “the evacuation” of children and women from Tskhinvali and nearby Ossetian villages following the most intense violent flare-up in years.

It was reported on August 3 that over 500 women and children were sent to Russia’s North Ossetian Republic. Yuri Morozov, the breakaway region’s prime minister, said that more had been sent on August 4, bringing the total number of children evacuated close to 2,000.

“North Ossetia alone may be incapable of handling such an influx, so Eduard Kokoity [the South Ossetian secessionist leader] is now exploring the option of sending children to other Russian federal republics in the North Caucasus,” Morozov said in remarks posted on the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee website.

Ermak Dzansolov, deputy prime minister of Russia’s North Ossetian Republic, told Interfax news agency on August 3 that the influx was not an evacuation. Sending children to North Ossetia was part of a pre-arranged summer-camp programme, he explained.

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