There are two reasons behind Shevardnadze’s decision to drive the Russian peacekeepers from the Abkhaz bank of the border river Inguri. Firstly, Russia has so far failed to provide Tbilisi with any adequate explanation concerning its decision to issue Russian passports to Abkhaz residents. Russian authorities launched the campaign last year, and, according to Shevardnadze up to 80,000 of Abkhazia’s 150,000 residents have already received Russian passports. In the opinion of the Georgian leader, this amounts to ''a dress rehearsal for the annexation of our territory''.
Another move that vexed Shevardnadze was taken by Russia on December 25, when an Abkhaz train crossed the Russian border and arrived in Sochi from the Abkhaz capital of Sukhumi for the first time since the end of the Georgian-Abkhaz war.
''After it is officially established whether the Russian authorities were in the know about the restoration of the railway link with Abkhazia, or it was a private initiative, the Georgian leadership will take the appropriate steps, involving lodging a protest with international organizations,'' the Georgian president said.
Moreover, it appears that Georgia’s protests will receive support in those organizations. Tbilisi claims that by re-opening the railway link between Sukhumi and Sochi Russia is acting in breach of a CIS summit resolution imposing an economic blockade on separatist Abkhazia.
Abkhaz residents, however, hailed the resumption of traffic on the Sukhumi-Sochi railway link. Previously, there had been no other way for them to travel to Russia, other than on foot via a checkpoint at the Psou River – most Abkhaz citizens cannot afford private cars.
The first Sochi-bound train that left Sukhumi on December 25 was carrying no ordinary passengers but an official delegation from the Abkhaz government. At each station the officials received a hearty welcome and were presented with the traditional Russian offering of bread and salt.
In Tbilisi the news of the renewed link aroused quite different sentiments. The Georgians, not without good reason, said the separatists’ trip to Sochi amounted to an attempt on the country’s territorial integrity. ''If the link is not closed, Georgian will ban the movement of the Russian military contingent deployed in Georgia throughout the territory of the Republic,'' the head of the Georgian Transport Minister Merab Adeishvili threatened.
It is unlikely, however, that the Georgian authorities will resort to such radical action. Peacekeepers will probably remain at their bases, while tangerine-laden trains will travel to and from Sochi on a daily basis. Shevardnadze himself understands that perfectly well.
''For Georgia there is no other way but to extend the mandate. If Georgia’s army enters Abkhazia, Abkhaz residents will never reconcile with that,'' RBC quoted the Georgian leader as saying at another news briefing held on the same day.
Tbilisi has repeatedly postponed the extension of the Russian peacekeepers’ mandate in the past, but depending on the state of relationship between the two states, the mandate has always been extended sooner or later. The worst crisis occurred after a rebel unit headed by the infamous Chechen warlord Ruslan Gelayev crossed into Abkhaz territory in October 2001, whereupon Russian peacekeepers stayed in the conflict zone without a mandate for several months.
Up until now the Russian authorities, with the help of various concessions, have always succeeded in persuading Georgia not to expel the peacekeepers from Abkhazia. At the same time, in defiance of Tbilisi’s protests, Moscow has continued rendering assistance to Sukhumi: issuing Russian passports to Abkhaz residents, or, heeding Sukhumi’s request to protract the dismantling of the Russian military base in Gudauta.
At present Tbilisi has one more trump card up its sleeve. In response to the restoration of the Sukhumi-Sochi railway link Georgia may refuse Russia’s request to extradite three Chechen rebels detained in August by Georgia’s border troops.
On January 14 the Transport Minister of Georgia Merab Adeishvili is scheduled to arrive in Moscow to discuss the railway conflict with his Russian counterparts.
14 ЯНВАРЯ 14:57
