Europe, Global, Global Geopolitics, Headlines

POLITICS: Caucasus Crisis Raises Tensions at U.N.

Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 26 2008 (IPS) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday that Russia’s recognition of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia “may have wider implications for security and stability in the Caucasus.”

“The question of recognition of states is a matter for sovereign states to decide,” Ban said in a statement.

“The secretary-general regrets that ongoing efforts to find a common solution on the way forward in the crisis in Georgia within the Security Council may be complicated,” the statement said.

Speaking at a U.N. press conference Tuesday, Russia’s ambassador Vitaly Churkin affirmed that, “We have no question about the sovereign independence of Georgia… [but] both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have the right to self-determination under the Charter of the United Nations and other international instruments.”

Churkin blamed the Georgian government and its Western backers, including United States, for the continuing deadlock in diplomatic talks over the future of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Other members of the Security Council took a different view. “We were making progress, but frankly territorial integrity [of Georgia] was an essential part of that and Russia’s actions today have put a massive block in the way of achieving a common Security Council position,” British Ambassador John Sawers told reporters Tuesday.

The United States and its Western allies are pressing Russia for complete withdrawal of its troops from Georgia, but Moscow has repeatedly asserted that its military presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia is in compliance with the past in international agreements.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, both South Ossetia and Abkhazia had become part of Georgia, although it was widely reported at the time that people in the two regions wanted them to be recognised as separate political entities.

The Russians created their peacekeeping forces in the two regions in 1992 and 1994, following the Georgian military incursions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 1992 under the slogan, “Georgia for Georgians.”

In recognising South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, Churkin said Moscow’s decision was guided by the U.N. Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and other international instruments that recognise the right to self-determination.

Russia says it tried to preserve Georgian unity for 17 years, but was forced to change its course after Georgian government carried out a massive military crackdown in South Ossetia. The Aug. 8 army action resulted in hundreds of deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

Churkin and other Russian officials said Moscow now felt obliged to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as other countries had done with Kosovo. In a statement, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the presidents of South Ossetia and Abkhazia appealed to Russia to recognise the sovereignty of their regions and that the Russian parliament voted in favour of such calls.

Georgia has strongly reacted to the Russian declaration, and said Moscow was seeking to “change Europe’s borders by force”. In a statement Monday night, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said the Russian move has “no legal basis”.

Saakashivili’s backers in Washington and elsewhere in the West also strongly condemned the Russian recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In a statement Tuesday, U.S. President George W. Bush called the Russian decision “irresponsible” and said Moscow must live up to its international commitments.

“This decision is inconsistent with numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions that Russia has voted for in the past,” said Bush. “[It] is also inconsistent with the French-brokered six-point ceasefire agreement which President Medvedev signed.”

“Abkhazia and South Ossetia are within the internationally recognised borders of Georgia, and they must remain so,” he added. “Russia’s action only exacerbates tensions and complicates diplomatic negotiations.”

France, which brokered the six-point agreement between Russia and Georgia on Aug. 12, also deplored Russia’s decision and called for a political solution. The six-point agreement signed by the Russians and Georgians calls for the withdrawal of the Georgian forces to their permanent basis and the Russian forces to “the line of prior to the beginning of hostilities,” meaning South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In accordance with the agreement, Russia has pulled out from Georgia, but not from the separatist regions. Russia says now it wants the international community to open a discussion of larger security and stability arrangements in the two regions. But Georgia and powerful Western allies insist that Russian forces must also leave all the disputed territories, a condition that appears to be non-negotiable for the Russians.

“The people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have several times spoken out at referendums in favour of independence,” said Medvedev. “It is our understanding that what has happened in Tskhinval and what has been planned for Abkhazia they have the right to decide their destiny by themselves.”

In addition to Washington’s plan to install missile defence systems in Poland and expansion of NATO forces, the Medvedev government seems increasingly upset about the increased U.S. military support for the Georgian government.

“Does Washington purposefully encourage an irresponsible and unpredictable regime in the misadventure?” asked Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in a recent article published in the Wall Street Journal. “If the U.S. couldn’t control Tbilisi’s behaviour before, why do some in the U.S. rush to rearm the Georgian army now?”

Stephen Zunes, a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, agrees that without Washington’s help Saakashvili might have acted differently.

“With strong encouragement from Washington, Saakashvili’s government reduced domestic spending but dramatically increased military spending, with the armed forces expanding to more than 45,000 personnel over the next four years, 12,000 of whom were trained by the United States,” he said.

“Congress approved hundreds of millions of dollars of military assistance to Georgia, a small country of less than five million people,” he said. “In addition, the United States successfully encouraged Israel to send advisors and trainers to support the rapidly expanding Georgian armed forces.”