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GEORGIA DEMONSTRATES POLITICAL, MILITARY SKILL IN KODORI GORGE
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Aug 1, 2006
By Vladimir Socor
Georgian authorities are beginning to restore normal conditions
for daily life in the upper Kodori Gorge, following the
successful law-and-order operation on July 25-27 that forced the
Moscow-manipulated rebel chieftain Emzar Kvitsiani to flee the area.
The upper Kodori Gorge is the only part of pre-1992 Abkhazia's
territory not controlled by the secessionist authorities.
Conducted jointly by Georgia's Internal Affairs and Defense Ministries,
the operation turned out to be remarkably clean, with only one civilian
death, two policemen injured, and no known casualties among Kvitsiani's
followers, a small number of whom have apparently made their way into
Abkhaz-controlled territory. Russian propaganda clearly failed in its
attempt to build up Kvitsiani into a spokesman for the Svan ethnic
group that inhabits the Kodori Gorge.
Most Defense Ministry personnel are already being withdrawn from the
gorge in the wake of the successful operation. An Interior Ministry
unit, reinforced by a small military element, is to be permanently
stationed in Kodori in order to provide security for the population
and prevent organized crime. Substantial arms caches have been
found and continue to be discovered on a daily basis. According to
intelligence data, Russian and Abkhaz special services had delivered
weapons to Kvitsiani's group in March, presumably in preparation
for the rebellion he had launched on July 22 against the Georgian
government. At least some of the weapons apparently originated from
Russia's base at Gudauta in Abkhazia, where the arms stockpile of the
"Baghramian" Armenian battalion was ostensibly "robbed" and its rifles
and grenade launchers sent up the gorge to Kvitsiani's group.
Kvitsiani and his nephew Bacho Argvliani, who operated criminal
rackets in the area, are being sought for investigation and trial.
Russian television has twice interviewed Kvitsiani at an undisclosed
location, presumably in Abkhazia. He used the interviews to urge
Georgian soldiers and policemen to turn their arms against their
commanders, ministers, and the Georgian president; and he continued
urging "Mingrelians" to rise against the Georgian government -- a
line intermittently used in Russian psychological warfare operations
against Georgia since the early 1990s and that always fell flat.
Reverting, moreover, to one of Moscow's themes familiar from the two
anti-Chechen wars, Kvitsiani alleged in these interviews that "Arabs"
and "Chechens" participated in the Georgian operation and that he
also spotted a "Negro," presumably proving American involvement
(Russian TV Channel One "Vremya," July 27; Imedi TV, July 30).
Georgian authorities are currently distributing flour, sugar, vegetable
oil, and other staples to Kodori residents as well as 200 lari ($115)
in cash per household. The authorities are bringing construction
materials into the gorge for an urgent program to rebuild schools,
roads, a medical clinic, and a disused airport, as well as restoring
bus service to Kodori from the rest of Georgia.
The Tbilisi-backed legislative assembly and government of the pre-1992
Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia is now moving from Tbilisi to the
Kodori Gorge. It shall be headquartered temporarily in the village
of Azhara, pending the construction of an appropriate building. These
pre-1992 bodies represent Abkhazia's entire population, including its
Georgian population, which had formed 45% of the total (to 17% Abkhaz)
prior to the Russia-aided mass ethnic cleansing of Georgians. The
relocation of these bodies from Tbilisi to the Kodori Gorge, within
the pre-1992 Abkhazia's territory, amounts to a strong political
signal that Georgia intends to reverse the outcome of that war,
albeit through a political process. Georgia will probably support the
participation of these two representative bodies in some role in the
negotiations toward a political resolution of the conflict.
In Sukhumi, delegations from Russia's North Caucasus and southern
Russian regions held talks with the secessionist leadership in
recent days, promising to send "thousands of volunteers" to support
Abkhazia in the event of hostilities with Georgia. They declare that
they would in that case reach Abkhazia and Georgia itself not only
or not necessarily through Sukhumi (which would expose the Russian
political authorities' complicity), but rather via Kabardino-Balkaria
or Karachaevo-Cherkessia. In that case, however, the hand of Russia's
secret services would be exposed. Although Tbilisi is determined not to
initiate any such hostilities, Russian military intelligence may well
use its experience at provoking clashes so as to discredit Georgia.
In the aftermath of Georgia's successful operation, President
Mikheil Saakashvili told the nation that a retreat from Kodori or
negotiations with Kvitsiani (as the latter's handlers were seeking)
"would have been the beginning of the end of Georgian statehood."
Thanks to the skillful operation, however, Kvitsiani seems set to
join the "brigade of political corpses" in a Russian safe haven.
(Rustavi-2 TV, Mze TV, Kavkas-Press, Interfax, July 27-31)
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Aug 1, 2006
By Vladimir Socor
Georgian authorities are beginning to restore normal conditions
for daily life in the upper Kodori Gorge, following the
successful law-and-order operation on July 25-27 that forced the
Moscow-manipulated rebel chieftain Emzar Kvitsiani to flee the area.
The upper Kodori Gorge is the only part of pre-1992 Abkhazia's
territory not controlled by the secessionist authorities.
Conducted jointly by Georgia's Internal Affairs and Defense Ministries,
the operation turned out to be remarkably clean, with only one civilian
death, two policemen injured, and no known casualties among Kvitsiani's
followers, a small number of whom have apparently made their way into
Abkhaz-controlled territory. Russian propaganda clearly failed in its
attempt to build up Kvitsiani into a spokesman for the Svan ethnic
group that inhabits the Kodori Gorge.
Most Defense Ministry personnel are already being withdrawn from the
gorge in the wake of the successful operation. An Interior Ministry
unit, reinforced by a small military element, is to be permanently
stationed in Kodori in order to provide security for the population
and prevent organized crime. Substantial arms caches have been
found and continue to be discovered on a daily basis. According to
intelligence data, Russian and Abkhaz special services had delivered
weapons to Kvitsiani's group in March, presumably in preparation
for the rebellion he had launched on July 22 against the Georgian
government. At least some of the weapons apparently originated from
Russia's base at Gudauta in Abkhazia, where the arms stockpile of the
"Baghramian" Armenian battalion was ostensibly "robbed" and its rifles
and grenade launchers sent up the gorge to Kvitsiani's group.
Kvitsiani and his nephew Bacho Argvliani, who operated criminal
rackets in the area, are being sought for investigation and trial.
Russian television has twice interviewed Kvitsiani at an undisclosed
location, presumably in Abkhazia. He used the interviews to urge
Georgian soldiers and policemen to turn their arms against their
commanders, ministers, and the Georgian president; and he continued
urging "Mingrelians" to rise against the Georgian government -- a
line intermittently used in Russian psychological warfare operations
against Georgia since the early 1990s and that always fell flat.
Reverting, moreover, to one of Moscow's themes familiar from the two
anti-Chechen wars, Kvitsiani alleged in these interviews that "Arabs"
and "Chechens" participated in the Georgian operation and that he
also spotted a "Negro," presumably proving American involvement
(Russian TV Channel One "Vremya," July 27; Imedi TV, July 30).
Georgian authorities are currently distributing flour, sugar, vegetable
oil, and other staples to Kodori residents as well as 200 lari ($115)
in cash per household. The authorities are bringing construction
materials into the gorge for an urgent program to rebuild schools,
roads, a medical clinic, and a disused airport, as well as restoring
bus service to Kodori from the rest of Georgia.
The Tbilisi-backed legislative assembly and government of the pre-1992
Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia is now moving from Tbilisi to the
Kodori Gorge. It shall be headquartered temporarily in the village
of Azhara, pending the construction of an appropriate building. These
pre-1992 bodies represent Abkhazia's entire population, including its
Georgian population, which had formed 45% of the total (to 17% Abkhaz)
prior to the Russia-aided mass ethnic cleansing of Georgians. The
relocation of these bodies from Tbilisi to the Kodori Gorge, within
the pre-1992 Abkhazia's territory, amounts to a strong political
signal that Georgia intends to reverse the outcome of that war,
albeit through a political process. Georgia will probably support the
participation of these two representative bodies in some role in the
negotiations toward a political resolution of the conflict.
In Sukhumi, delegations from Russia's North Caucasus and southern
Russian regions held talks with the secessionist leadership in
recent days, promising to send "thousands of volunteers" to support
Abkhazia in the event of hostilities with Georgia. They declare that
they would in that case reach Abkhazia and Georgia itself not only
or not necessarily through Sukhumi (which would expose the Russian
political authorities' complicity), but rather via Kabardino-Balkaria
or Karachaevo-Cherkessia. In that case, however, the hand of Russia's
secret services would be exposed. Although Tbilisi is determined not to
initiate any such hostilities, Russian military intelligence may well
use its experience at provoking clashes so as to discredit Georgia.
In the aftermath of Georgia's successful operation, President
Mikheil Saakashvili told the nation that a retreat from Kodori or
negotiations with Kvitsiani (as the latter's handlers were seeking)
"would have been the beginning of the end of Georgian statehood."
Thanks to the skillful operation, however, Kvitsiani seems set to
join the "brigade of political corpses" in a Russian safe haven.
(Rustavi-2 TV, Mze TV, Kavkas-Press, Interfax, July 27-31)