EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Georgia: Bombs Strike Tbilisi Airfield, Possible Second Front Emerges

EURASIA INSIGHT

GEORGIA: BOMBS STRIKE TBILISI AIRFIELD, POSSIBLE SECOND FRONT EMERGES 8/09/08

At roughly 5:30am local time on August 10, Russian fighter planes dropped three bombs on a military plane factory and airfield not far from Tbilisi International Airport. There were no casualties. Flights to and from the airport are reportedly still running.

The US embassy has begun a voluntary evaucation for families of diplomatic personnel and other US citizens wishing to leave Georgia. Embassy staff remain in Tbilisi, however.

The evacuation decision comes amidst reports from Georgian officials that the Russian Black Sea fleet is headed towards Ochamchira, a coastal town in the Russian-backed, breakaway region of Abkhazia, to the north of Georgian-controlled territory. The movement corresponds with a reported bombing raid on the Upper Kodori Gorge, a mountainous strip of Abkhazia still controlled by Tbilisi.

Speaking with foreign reporters via a late night August 9 conference call, Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili said that the two events prompt the government to think that Russia may be trying to open a second front in the fighting.

"I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I don't exclude it all," Tkeshelashvili said.

"We need urgent, urgent help here," she added later.

Speaking with reporters in New York on August 9, Edmond Mulet, the United Nations assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, stated that the separatist Abkhaz authorities had asked the UN to remove its 15 military observers from the Upper Kodori Gorge. The UN has decided to withdaw the group. Mulet stated that its observers expect "Abkhaz forces to launch a military operation in the Upper Kodori Valley as early as tomorrow morning [August 10]," according to a UN press release. Chances for a cease-fire, however, appear to be no closer. According to Tkeshelashvili, Russia has said that it will not agree to President Mikheil Saakashvili's cease-fire offer unless Georgia withdraws all of its troops from South Ossetia.

Moscow warns that "'We are now going to a full scale operation and we will not stop.'" That has been very clearly said to us," Tkeshelashvili said.

Georgian forces have already begun to withdraw from the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, although remain in the vicinity, according to official sources. Tkeshelashvili stated that the troops still control the heights overlooking the town.

Moscow explains its actions by the need to protect its citizens living in South Ossetia -- most Ossetians living in separatist territory carry Russian passports -- and for alleged Georgian attacks on Russian peacekeepers in the region.

Terming Georgia's actions "a crime against their own people," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on August 9 argued that the 1999 peacekeeper agreement for South Ossetia charges Russia "to protect the other side in the event of a ceasefire violation. That is what we have done in full accordance with these agreements." Putin's explained the "political side of the matter" with a reference to Russia's historic role in the South Caucasus -- a role which Moscow has seen steadily decline in recent years as the region looks further westward for support. "The fact is that for centuries Russia has been playing a positive, stabilizing role in the Caucasus. . .It was a guarantor of security, cooperation and progress in this region and nobody should doubt that," Russian television reported Putin as saying. Calling on Georgia to "immediately stop the aggression against South Ossetia" and to observe the pre-existing cease-fire, Putin warned: "If someone wants to be respected, he should respect others. In an August 9 statement, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt rejected that reasoning.

"The justification given by Russia is that it is protecting Russian nationals, but the obligation to protect people - irrespective of their nationality - lies with the state in which those individuals are located," Bildt said.

"We did not accept military intervention by Milosevic's Serbia in other former Yugoslav states on the grounds of protecting Serbian passport holders," Bildt continued. "And we have reason to remember how Hitler used this very doctrine little more than half a century ago to undermine and attack substantial parts of central Europe."

Meanwhile, a slow trickle of diplomatic envoys has started to Tbilisi. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is expected to arrive on Sunday to discuss ideas for a truce. France currently holds the presidency of the European Union. US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, which will coordinate Washington's response with the European Union, is expected also to travel to Tbilisi.

Lithuania and Ukraine, both staunch Georgian allies, have sent their respective foreign minister, Petras Vaitiekunas, and deputy foreign minister, Kostyantyn Yeliseyev, to confer with Georgian officials.

France has indicated that its foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has taken an active role in trying to broker a cease-fire, and will travel to Tbilisi on Sunday. A visit is also expected by US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, although no official timetable has yet been announced.

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