Resumption of the Rail Communication Between Russia and Abkhazia Hinders the Peace Process
The rail link connecting Georgia and Russia was running through the region of Abkhazia and was broken after the violent conflict in this region of Georgia that ended in 1994 ceasefire agreement. Later, on January 19, 1996 the heads of states of the Commonwealth of the Independent State (CIS), of which Russia is a part, decided to restrict communication and trade with the breakaway Abkhazia government.
Reopening of railway communication remained a bargain chip in peace negotiations ever since. The Georgian side tied resumption of the railway link, crucial to the ailing economy of Abkhazia, with return of some 300 thousand displaced persons of Georgian ethnicity to Abkhazia.
On December 25 a train from Russia conducted its first trip in a decade between Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi and the Abkhaz capital of Sokhumi. The event is presented as an action aimed at resuming regular transportation between Russia and Abkhazia.
The decision came as a major upset for the Georgian government, which tries hard to find the political solution to the Abkhazia issue. The relations with Russia were already strained by the fact of Moscow’s silent approval of providing the Abkhaz residents with Russian citizenship.
Almost simultaneously, the news broke of the municipality of Moscow, establishing official trade links with Abkhaz de facto government, which would give them control over more than ten resort facilities in Abkhazia.
Governors of Orlov, Krasnodar and Stavropol regions of the Russian Federation have also signed agreements with Sukhumi, thus giving opportunity to the separatists to increase their economic ties and profits.
According to the information of the Tbilisi-based Abkhazian government-in-exile, Russia helped to install a major relay antenna near Bichvinta, which will provide Abkhazians with independent communications with the rest of the world.
While being most important actor in conflict resolution, Moscow has been actively pushing for reopening of the railway, calling this ‘an economic approach’ to the conflict resolution.
“On the governmental level Moscow gives priority to economy. Putin’s administration believes that rapid development of economic processes is a key solution of the Abkhaz problem,” Tedo Japaridze, Chairman of the Georgian National Security Council, announced upon his return to Georgia from Moscow in late December 2002.
Armenian was also pressing Georgia to reopen the land communication with Russia, which would give landlocked nation an easiest trade and communication route with its strategic partner – Russia.
Armen Khachatryan, chairman of the Armenian Parliament, pushed for reopening of the railway during his visit to Tbilisi in October, but he got very diplomatic refusal from his Georgian counterpart.
The Georgian Parliament promptly responded to the reopening of the railway on December 25, calling this action a “rude intervention into affairs of the independent state by the Russian Federation”.
However, it seems that the tough statements from Tbilisi do not deter the Russian authorities. Several months ago the Russian State Duma (the parliament) adopted even more degrading decision from the legal and political points of view: the Russian side simplified procedures of obtaining the Russian citizenship for residents of Abkhazia.
Tamaz Nadareishvili, chairman of the Abkhazian government-in-exile, believes that reopening of the railway is a logical step in Russia’s policy towards this issue. Moreover, Nadareishvili thinks that such a decision was well in line with statements of the Personal Representative of the President of Georgia in Abkhazia conflict resolution Aslan Abashidze, who has been urging development of economic relations with Abkhazia.
“If they will not consider our position on the diplomatic level and resume regular functioning of the railway, tensions will increase not only on the Abkhazian territory but in [Georgia’s] relations with Russia as well,” Nadareishvili told Civil Georgia.
Opening of the railway route was also a symbolic slap in the face of the Georgian diplomacy, as it happened during the visit of the chairman of the Georgian National Security Council Tedo Japaridze to Moscow, who was to meet head of Putin’s administration Alexander Voloshin. Abkhazia was planned to be one of the main topics on the meeting agenda.
The UN Observers Mission to Georgia was the first to back up the protest of the Georgian side. Roza Atunbaeva, Deputy Representative of the UN Secretary General to Georgia, stated that the UN Observers Mission in Georgia was not informed about reopening of the railway. She also said, that “such unilateral actions hinder the peace process.”
Georgia has no other ace in its hand, but to count on support of the international community, hoping to influence Russia. Vakhtang Kolbaia, a member of the Parliament and IDP from Abkhazia, told Civil Georgia that the delegation of the Georgian Parliament to OSCE demanded inclusion of the Abkhazian issue into the agenda of the next OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which is scheduled for February 2003.
By Revaz Bakhtadze