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Georgia on their minds
Russia wants South Ossetia and Abkhazia back - and so does Georgia. When I
met soldiers in these breakaway regions, they were ready for a fight
Simon Reeve
Guardian/UK
April 20, 2008 9:00 AM
During lunch in a quiet café, the tough young South Ossetian soldiers
downed mugs of vodka to celebrate their sergeant's birthday, then
linked arms and sang patriotic songs of war and independence. After a
few rounds, as if remembering their duty, they sobered up, gathered
their Kalashnikovs, and headed off to man defences and pillboxes on
the frontline with Georgia.
A breakaway region of Georgia, South Ossetia is one of several
separatist republics scattered across former Soviet states that are
at the centre of rumbling conflicts largely forgotten by the rest
of the world. Despite being the cause of regional wars after the
Soviet Union collapsed, the issues that provoked fighting in South
Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan,
or Transniestria, a renegade sliver of a country between Moldova and
Ukraine, have never really been resolved.
Visiting several of these breakaway states a few years ago, including
South Ossetia, was a trip through a timewarp. Fields were ploughed by
horses and old trucks belched soot. Development had been slow and most
people were poorer than during Soviet times. I was struck by a sense
that both sides were waiting for the other to make a bold, decisive
move. Either the separatists would finally declare full independence,
or the former mother country - be it Georgia or Moldova - would attack
and invade.
These tense situations need careful, patient diplomacy. But Russia
has been meddling in the former Soviet states, partly to discourage
Nato and the west from moving closer to its borders, and partly in
the hope of recovering fragments of the old empire.
So the Kremlin has openly wooed, funded and encouraged separatists in
areas of Georgia and Transniestria, which split from Moldova. Russia
has also established military bases in both regions, with hundreds
of soldiers and heavy weaponry on the ground. The Kremlin calls
them "peacekeepers"; Georgian officials wryly describe them as
"piece-keepers".
Now, as revenge for western recognition of Kosovo, and because Moscow
has never really accepted the collapse of the Soviet empire, Russia
has announced it is further strengthening economic and political
links with South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
It is a bold attempt to encourage the two separatist states to join
Russia and ultimately accept annexation. But the new move by the
Kremlin dramatically increases the risk of war with Georgia, which
has long vowed to take back control of its separatist republics.
So what do South Ossetians and Abkhazians want? When I visited South
Ossetia, the state was on a war footing. Locals stressed they were
Ossetes, not Georgians, and wanted unification with their brothers
in the region of North Ossetia, across the border in Russia. Like
the separatists in Abkhazia, who view themselves as an ancient ethnic
group, they would prefer full independence, but would settle for rule
from Moscow over rule from Tiblisi.
Even if this crisis can be resolved peacefully, which seems unlikely,
others still simmer across the former Soviet Union. Transniestria
and Nagorno-Karabakh, now an almost entirely Christian enclave inside
Azerbaijan since Muslim Azeris were forced out, are both at the centre
of possible future wars. Troops on both sides seemed ready for a
fight. Surely it is time the European Union took a more active role
in resolving these festering conflicts. The alternative could be war
on the EU's eastern border.
Leaving South Ossetia, I chatted with heavily-armed Russian
"peacekeepers" on the border with Georgia. All clearly felt they
were defending an enclave of Mother Russia. I asked what they would
do if Georgian troops tried to retake South Ossetia. One pointed to
the Russian flag velcroed onto his uniform.
"We will take off our badges," he said adamantly, "and we will fight."
--Boundary_(ID_R/cl5BEjaQVsAIGvTKnLD w)--
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Russia wants South Ossetia and Abkhazia back - and so does Georgia. When I
met soldiers in these breakaway regions, they were ready for a fight
Simon Reeve
Guardian/UK
April 20, 2008 9:00 AM
During lunch in a quiet café, the tough young South Ossetian soldiers
downed mugs of vodka to celebrate their sergeant's birthday, then
linked arms and sang patriotic songs of war and independence. After a
few rounds, as if remembering their duty, they sobered up, gathered
their Kalashnikovs, and headed off to man defences and pillboxes on
the frontline with Georgia.
A breakaway region of Georgia, South Ossetia is one of several
separatist republics scattered across former Soviet states that are
at the centre of rumbling conflicts largely forgotten by the rest
of the world. Despite being the cause of regional wars after the
Soviet Union collapsed, the issues that provoked fighting in South
Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan,
or Transniestria, a renegade sliver of a country between Moldova and
Ukraine, have never really been resolved.
Visiting several of these breakaway states a few years ago, including
South Ossetia, was a trip through a timewarp. Fields were ploughed by
horses and old trucks belched soot. Development had been slow and most
people were poorer than during Soviet times. I was struck by a sense
that both sides were waiting for the other to make a bold, decisive
move. Either the separatists would finally declare full independence,
or the former mother country - be it Georgia or Moldova - would attack
and invade.
These tense situations need careful, patient diplomacy. But Russia
has been meddling in the former Soviet states, partly to discourage
Nato and the west from moving closer to its borders, and partly in
the hope of recovering fragments of the old empire.
So the Kremlin has openly wooed, funded and encouraged separatists in
areas of Georgia and Transniestria, which split from Moldova. Russia
has also established military bases in both regions, with hundreds
of soldiers and heavy weaponry on the ground. The Kremlin calls
them "peacekeepers"; Georgian officials wryly describe them as
"piece-keepers".
Now, as revenge for western recognition of Kosovo, and because Moscow
has never really accepted the collapse of the Soviet empire, Russia
has announced it is further strengthening economic and political
links with South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
It is a bold attempt to encourage the two separatist states to join
Russia and ultimately accept annexation. But the new move by the
Kremlin dramatically increases the risk of war with Georgia, which
has long vowed to take back control of its separatist republics.
So what do South Ossetians and Abkhazians want? When I visited South
Ossetia, the state was on a war footing. Locals stressed they were
Ossetes, not Georgians, and wanted unification with their brothers
in the region of North Ossetia, across the border in Russia. Like
the separatists in Abkhazia, who view themselves as an ancient ethnic
group, they would prefer full independence, but would settle for rule
from Moscow over rule from Tiblisi.
Even if this crisis can be resolved peacefully, which seems unlikely,
others still simmer across the former Soviet Union. Transniestria
and Nagorno-Karabakh, now an almost entirely Christian enclave inside
Azerbaijan since Muslim Azeris were forced out, are both at the centre
of possible future wars. Troops on both sides seemed ready for a
fight. Surely it is time the European Union took a more active role
in resolving these festering conflicts. The alternative could be war
on the EU's eastern border.
Leaving South Ossetia, I chatted with heavily-armed Russian
"peacekeepers" on the border with Georgia. All clearly felt they
were defending an enclave of Mother Russia. I asked what they would
do if Georgian troops tried to retake South Ossetia. One pointed to
the Russian flag velcroed onto his uniform.
"We will take off our badges," he said adamantly, "and we will fight."
--Boundary_(ID_R/cl5BEjaQVsAIGvTKnLD w)--
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress