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MOSCOW, SUKHUMI, TSKHINVALI UNITED AGAINST NATO'S EASTWARD EXPANSION
By Maia Edilashvili, Georgian Times
Daily Georgian Times, Georgia
Feb 21 2007
Since NATO sent encouraging messages to Tbilisi last week, Moscow,
along with Georgia's secessionist Abkhazia and South Ossetia, stepped
up appeals in protest.
"It is clear that Georgia will become a NATO member. As soon as it
joins NATO, Armenia will have no other alternative but to follow
(Georgia's example). So it is not difficult to guess what Azerbaijan
will do," said Sergei Shamba, Foreign Minister of Abkhazia (which
Georgia does not recognize), speaking at a press conference in Moscow
on February 16.
According to Shamba, if NATO carries on expanding its borders towards
Russia, only Abkhazia and South Ossetia will remain as buffer zones
between Russia and NATO. He underlined that Georgia's chances of
becoming a member of the alliance decreases Abkhazia's chances of
gaining recognition from Russia.
"Russia should understand that momentum is gathering," Shamba said.
"If we miss the boat, it could be too late [for regret]."
Accordingly, amid clear perspective for Georgia to be welcomed into
NATO any time soon, the self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia
and Abkhazia are pressuring Moscow to take decisive action.
Shamba 's Abkhaz counterpart Eduard Kokoiti has the same idea.
"Georgia may join NATO, but without Abkhazia and South Ossetia,"
Russia's Ria Novosti cited Kokoiti as saying at the Moscow press
conference on Friday.
On February 15, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign
Affairs approved a draft document reaffirming support for NATO's
expansion eastward. The bill calls for the timely admission of Albania,
Croatia, Georgia and Macedonia to NATO, authorizes security assistance
to those countries as well as to Ukraine for the 2008 fiscal year.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, 10 Eastern European
countries-the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia-have joined NATO.
Albania, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have
been granted a MAP (Membership Action Plan)-a so called 'open door'
to NATO-membership-and are presently on the waiting list to become
full-fledged partners of the alliance. Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Armenia have all applied for NATO membership and cooperated with
NATO through IPAP (Individual Partnership Action Plans). However,
the most optimistic applicants across the post-Soviet space are
Georgia and Ukraine. These two most vivid representatives of the
Colour Revolution Chain, are still striving for MAPs from NATO.
Recoiling against NATO's eastward enlargement, Moscow is primarily
concerned about the potential deployment of NATO bases in the former
Soviet allies in the Baltic Region and across Central Asia. Georgia's
strategic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia adds fuel
to the situation. NATO's expansion into Russia's neighborhood also
threatens the aspirations of unrecognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
which obtained de-facto independence in early 1990s with the support
of Moscow.
Earlier this month, while addressing the International Conference
on Security Policy in Munich, Putin once again warned against NATO's
eastward extension. "It is evident that the process of NATO expansion
has nothing to do with modernizing the alliance or with ensuring
security in Europe. On the contrary, it is seriously eroding mutual
trust," Russian President Vladimir Putin told the conference on
February 10.
The Munich Conference sent the most hopeful message yet toward
NATO-aspiring Georgia. "In 2009 I would like to see more countries
in NATO. I would like to see a NATO of 26 plus. I would like to see
Serbia firmly on the road to NATO. And I would like to see us coming
closer to honouring the ambitions of Ukraine and Georgia," said NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
While Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili hailed the statement as
"historic" and something which specifies "for the first time" the date
for Georgia's accession to the alliance, Putin interpreted Scheffer's
announcement as "provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust."
"And we have the right to ask: against whom is this expansion
intended?" Putin asked. "Now they [NATO officials] are trying to impose
new dividing lines and walls on us - these walls may be virtual, but
they are nevertheless dividing ones that cut through our continent."
In fact, what Moscow wants is to see Georgia as a neutral state. The
Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko directly stated
this while speaking at a Tbilisi news conference on February 6:
"Russia wants to see a Georgia which is an independent, sovereign
and neutral state, with neighbourly relations with Russia." For most
Georgians, "neutrality" translates into a refusal of NATO-membership,
one of Tbilisi's top foreign policy priorities that enjoys popular
support nationwide.
According to the online trilingual magazine Civil Georgia
(http://www.civil.ge), in light of the recent Russian-Georgian
confrontation, public support for Georgia's NATO integration has
increased from 74% in April 2006 to 83% in December 2006.
Citing a public opinion poll conducted by the Lithuanian Baltic
Surveys, a member of the Gallup Organization, as well as a
survey commissioned by the Georgian State Minister's Office for
Euro-Atlantic Integration Issues, Civil Georgia says that only 12%
of 1,400 respondents interviewed throughout Georgia are against
the country's membership in NATO. However, the magazine adds, 79%
also said they are against allowing any foreign country to maintain
a military presence on Georgian soil.
By Maia Edilashvili, Georgian Times
Daily Georgian Times, Georgia
Feb 21 2007
Since NATO sent encouraging messages to Tbilisi last week, Moscow,
along with Georgia's secessionist Abkhazia and South Ossetia, stepped
up appeals in protest.
"It is clear that Georgia will become a NATO member. As soon as it
joins NATO, Armenia will have no other alternative but to follow
(Georgia's example). So it is not difficult to guess what Azerbaijan
will do," said Sergei Shamba, Foreign Minister of Abkhazia (which
Georgia does not recognize), speaking at a press conference in Moscow
on February 16.
According to Shamba, if NATO carries on expanding its borders towards
Russia, only Abkhazia and South Ossetia will remain as buffer zones
between Russia and NATO. He underlined that Georgia's chances of
becoming a member of the alliance decreases Abkhazia's chances of
gaining recognition from Russia.
"Russia should understand that momentum is gathering," Shamba said.
"If we miss the boat, it could be too late [for regret]."
Accordingly, amid clear perspective for Georgia to be welcomed into
NATO any time soon, the self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia
and Abkhazia are pressuring Moscow to take decisive action.
Shamba 's Abkhaz counterpart Eduard Kokoiti has the same idea.
"Georgia may join NATO, but without Abkhazia and South Ossetia,"
Russia's Ria Novosti cited Kokoiti as saying at the Moscow press
conference on Friday.
On February 15, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign
Affairs approved a draft document reaffirming support for NATO's
expansion eastward. The bill calls for the timely admission of Albania,
Croatia, Georgia and Macedonia to NATO, authorizes security assistance
to those countries as well as to Ukraine for the 2008 fiscal year.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, 10 Eastern European
countries-the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia-have joined NATO.
Albania, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have
been granted a MAP (Membership Action Plan)-a so called 'open door'
to NATO-membership-and are presently on the waiting list to become
full-fledged partners of the alliance. Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Armenia have all applied for NATO membership and cooperated with
NATO through IPAP (Individual Partnership Action Plans). However,
the most optimistic applicants across the post-Soviet space are
Georgia and Ukraine. These two most vivid representatives of the
Colour Revolution Chain, are still striving for MAPs from NATO.
Recoiling against NATO's eastward enlargement, Moscow is primarily
concerned about the potential deployment of NATO bases in the former
Soviet allies in the Baltic Region and across Central Asia. Georgia's
strategic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia adds fuel
to the situation. NATO's expansion into Russia's neighborhood also
threatens the aspirations of unrecognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
which obtained de-facto independence in early 1990s with the support
of Moscow.
Earlier this month, while addressing the International Conference
on Security Policy in Munich, Putin once again warned against NATO's
eastward extension. "It is evident that the process of NATO expansion
has nothing to do with modernizing the alliance or with ensuring
security in Europe. On the contrary, it is seriously eroding mutual
trust," Russian President Vladimir Putin told the conference on
February 10.
The Munich Conference sent the most hopeful message yet toward
NATO-aspiring Georgia. "In 2009 I would like to see more countries
in NATO. I would like to see a NATO of 26 plus. I would like to see
Serbia firmly on the road to NATO. And I would like to see us coming
closer to honouring the ambitions of Ukraine and Georgia," said NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
While Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili hailed the statement as
"historic" and something which specifies "for the first time" the date
for Georgia's accession to the alliance, Putin interpreted Scheffer's
announcement as "provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust."
"And we have the right to ask: against whom is this expansion
intended?" Putin asked. "Now they [NATO officials] are trying to impose
new dividing lines and walls on us - these walls may be virtual, but
they are nevertheless dividing ones that cut through our continent."
In fact, what Moscow wants is to see Georgia as a neutral state. The
Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko directly stated
this while speaking at a Tbilisi news conference on February 6:
"Russia wants to see a Georgia which is an independent, sovereign
and neutral state, with neighbourly relations with Russia." For most
Georgians, "neutrality" translates into a refusal of NATO-membership,
one of Tbilisi's top foreign policy priorities that enjoys popular
support nationwide.
According to the online trilingual magazine Civil Georgia
(http://www.civil.ge), in light of the recent Russian-Georgian
confrontation, public support for Georgia's NATO integration has
increased from 74% in April 2006 to 83% in December 2006.
Citing a public opinion poll conducted by the Lithuanian Baltic
Surveys, a member of the Gallup Organization, as well as a
survey commissioned by the Georgian State Minister's Office for
Euro-Atlantic Integration Issues, Civil Georgia says that only 12%
of 1,400 respondents interviewed throughout Georgia are against
the country's membership in NATO. However, the magazine adds, 79%
also said they are against allowing any foreign country to maintain
a military presence on Georgian soil.