GEORGIA / RUSSIA: Putin termed Georgia's arrest of four Russian officers "a sign of the political legacy of former Russian secret police head Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria", Russian commander in Tbilisi says his forces will use force if provoked

Record ID: 1534365

  • Title: GEORGIA / RUSSIA: Putin termed Georgia's arrest of four Russian officers "a sign of the political legacy of former Russian secret police head Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria", Russian commander in Tbilisi says his forces will use force if provoked
  • Date: 1st October 2006
  • Summary: EXTERIOR OF GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 16th October 2006 13:19
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVABZ83BHY983ELXDLHGDBFA5OEC
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Tensions remained high on Sunday (October 1) between Russia and the Republic of Georgia.
    As Russia pulled out nearly all its diplomats and their dependants and stepped up the hawkish rhetoric, fears that military action might soon follow have increased.
    Georgia, a Caucasus mountain nation of 4.5 million people, is determined to hold its ground against its more powerful neighbour to the north.
    "What concerns us and what worries us is belligerent rhetoric from the Russian officials, especially from high officials -- Minister of Defence, military commanders -- and these belligerent statements worry us from the point of view that we consider this being statements that can be a threat of the use of force, which is basically unacceptable,'' said Georgian Foreign Minister, Gela Bezhuashvili.
    "It contradicts the UN Charter. It contradicts OSCE basic documents,'' he added.
    Georgia on Sunday accused President Putin of secretly meeting the leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both regions of Georgia that broke free from central rule in the early 1990s, on Saturday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
    With Russia granting citizenship to inhabitants of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it is now seen as an actor in the conflict, and not as a peacekeeper --- the role it has hitherto played.
    Russia raised the stakes with Georgia on Saturday (September 30) by suspending a scheduled pull-out of its troops from the former Soviet state.
    On Saturday, Russia flew about 60 people, including diplomats and family members, from Georgia.
    The conflict between Russia and Georgia erupted on Wednesday (September 27) when Georgia arrested four Russian army officers, accused them of spying and deployed police around Russian army headquarters in Tbilisi. The confrontation is also testing Russia's ties with the United States.
    Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who swept to power in the so-called "Rose Revolution" in 2003, has irked Russia by pursuing closer ties with the United States and European Union, and pressing for admission to NATO.
    He has accused Moscow of supporting the separatists in two breakaway Georgian regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
    Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Georgia on Sunday (October 1) of behaving like Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's feared secret police chief in his first public comments on the crisis in relations between the two countries.
    Opening an urgent meeting of his top security advisers to discuss tensions with Georgia, Putin accused Tbilisi of deliberately provoking Moscow by detaining four Russian army officers on spying charges last week and surrounding their base in the Georgian capital.
    Georgia's actions have plunged already deteriorating relations between the two former Soviet states into their worst crisis in more than decade.
    Putin termed Georgia's moves against the officers "a sign of the political legacy of Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria".
    Beria, an ethnic Georgian from Abkhazia, ran the feared NKVD secret police in the late 1930s and 1940s supervising the ruthless purge of millions of Soviet citizens. He remains one of the most hated figures of Soviet history.
    "These people think that because they have the support of their foreign sponsors they are safe and secure,'' Putin told Russian television, hinting that Russia will study its options for retaliation. "Whether or not that is the case we will learn today from military and civilian experts.''
    Putin did not mention Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili by name but was clearly referring to the pro-Western policies the Georgian president has pursued since sweeping to power in a popular revolution in 2003.
    Putin did not specify what moves Russia might make against Georgia, adding that he wanted to listen first to his advisors' views.
    Russian military personnel in Tbilisi raised the temperature in the conflict on Sunday (October 1) when their commander said they will use force to protect themselves if they are provoked.
    "We are ready for anything in order to prevent something from happening,'' said the Russian military commander in Tbilisi, General Andrei Popov. "Still, it would be better that nothing happens. But should there be any kind of attempt, we are ready to use all means available including the use of weapons to shoot to kill."
    In Tbilisi, police lifted their heavy cordon around the glass-and-concrete Russian army headquarters, focal point of the crisis, though a few police cars remained nearby.
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