EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - As Georgia Loses Gas, Rancor at Russia on the Rise

EURASIA INSIGHT

AS GEORGIA LOSES GAS, RANCOR AT RUSSIA ON THE RISE
Diana Petriashvili 1/23/06

The explosion of two Russian gas pipelines that supply Georgia with its natural gas has further embittered relations between Moscow and Tbilisi and accelerated the political debate within Georgia about the need to find alternative energy suppliers.

Early in the morning of January 22, the main and reserve gas pipelines that supply Georgia and Armenia exploded 20 minutes apart on the territory of the Russian republic of North Ossetia. After several hours, the Kavkasioni high voltage transmission line, which supplies Georgia with power, also exploded. Some 800 grams of TNT were found at the sites, according to the Russian prosecutor-general’s office.

With Russia as Georgia’s sole source for natural gas, the explosions promised to wreak havoc on the country’s fragile economy. The blasts have reportedly left Georgia’s regions without gas supplies for at least a week. Some areas of the capital, Tbilisi, are experiencing spotty coverage or have had their supplies turned off. Power outages in the capital have also picked up pace. As temperatures dropped into the low 20s F on Sunday, some residents stood in long lines to buy kerosene as an emergency back-up heating supply.

Moscow expects the main gas pipeline to be repaired by the end of the day on January 23, the Russian news agency Interfax quoted Dmitri Kozak, President Vladimir Putin’s representative to the district that contains North Ossetia, as saying. Shipments to Georgia and Armenia are expected to begin again on January 24, an unnamed representative of the Russian energy transportation company KavkazTransGas told the agency.

But even with repairs underway, the repercussions from the explosions promise to be long-lasting.

The explosions have been described by Georgian officials as an "act of vandalism," implemented by Russia. In a televised address to the nation, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili claimed that the alleged sabotage was an attempt to force Georgia to sell its main gas pipeline to the Russian energy giant GazProm.

"Russia tried to force Georgia’s hand over its main gas pipeline and its other gas infrastructure," Saakashvili said late on January 22, speaking at the extraordinary session of the country’s national security council, "We are ready to study all mutually beneficial commercial proposals, but not in the circumstances of blackmailing," he added.

Saakashvili demanded that the Russian side undertake urgent measures in order to resume power supplies to Georgia. "We categorically demand from the Russian authorities to resume power supplies and to implement all its obligations included in the contract [signed between the Georgian government and the Russian energy company GazProm about gas supplies to Georgia]," he stated.

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili convened a news briefing shortly after the president’s speech in which he described the incident as a potential "terrorism act."

"Last year, Georgia faced several terrorism acts [...] Today, the fact is that one country implemented a sabotage act against another country. But we will investigate it all [...] just as it was done previously," Merabishvili stated. Following up on that declaration, the interior ministry on January 23 asked Russia to extradite two citizens, Anatoly Sisoev and Roman Boiko, to Georgia for allegedly attacking Georgian regional energy facilities in 2004, the online Civil.ge news site reported.

Replying to Georgian officials’ statements, the Russian foreign ministry on January 23 termed Georgia’s sabotage charges "hysteria." Georgia, the ministry said in a statement, has formed "a mix of dependency, double standards and depraved behavior [...]which is caused by the hope of support by the anti-Russian policy in the West."

Russia has stated that it will launch a criminal investigation into the explosions, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the Federal Security Service to increase security around energy facilities in the North Caucasus. Putin has suggested that the explosions were acts of deliberate sabotage, similar to a pipeline blast in Daghestan in 2005.

By late in the afternoon on January 23, Saakashvili had considerably modified his tone. At an official opening ceremony for a $40 million, Russian-financed gas power turbine south of Tbilisi, the president described the turbine as a "good example" of cooperation with Russia. ’This is a good example of cooperation, though, what happened yesterday, was a bad example. We are ready to make way for any good cooperation’, the television station Rustavi-2 reported Saakashvili as saying.

Georgia’s opposition parties have largely expressed support for the authorities as they struggle to restore gas supplies. However, harsh criticism has been voiced towards State Minister for Economic Reforms Kakha Bendukidze, the author of Georgia’s current privatization campaign, who has been outspoken in his support for selling Georgia’s main gas pipeline.

Speaking in parliament on January 23, deputies from the Democratic Front, which unites the Republican and Conservative Parties, called on Saakashvili to fire Bendukidze, who once headed the Russian industrial concern UralMash, for allegedly serving Russia’s interests.

"He is one of those who needs to be sent away from the [Georgian] government," Republican Party leader David Berdzenishvili stated at a January 23 news briefing. "The government needs to get rid of this Russian aggression within it," Berdzenishvili said. Bendukidze has dismissed the charges as groundless.

Gas exports to Armenia from Georgia have also been halted as a result of the blast, and Georgia is no longer receiving electricity from Armenia’s gas-powered hydroelectric stations. Unlike Georgia, however, Armenia has a back-up supply of natural gas.

To make up for Georgia’s shortfall, GazProm increased its regular supplies to Azerbaijan by 3 million cubic meters, so that Azerbaijan, in turn, could pass the increase on to Georgia, GazExport, the export branch of Russian energy giant GazProm, reported on January 23. The in crease, however, is less than half of the country’s usual daily supply of 7 million cubic meters. According to Georgia’s ministry of fuel and energy, Azerbaijani gas is now supplying certain parts of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, as well as fueling the Gardabani power unit.

The crisis takes place against a backdrop of steadily deteriorating relations between Russia and Georgia over the increased price of gas exported to the South Caucasus state. The need for an alternative gas supplier is a sensitive topic often raised by Georgian government officials, politicians and journalists. Kazakhstan has been mooted as one option. Georgian Energy Minister Nika Gelauri has now begun negotiations with Iran on supplying Georgia with natural gas, Rustavi-2 reported on January 23.

At the same time, many Georgian analysts view with concern what is perceived as attempts by Russia to use its energy resources to re-establish its influence in the South Caucasus. On January 23, the Russian daily Kommersant reported that Armenia may be ready to sell GazProm a 45 percent stake in its gas pipeline with Iran in exchange for cheap gas from Russia.

In a January 23 article in the 24 Saati newspaper, Vladimer Papava, an economic expert and member of the ruling National Movement-Democrats faction, and S. Frederick Starr, chairman of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies’ Central Asia and Caucasus Institute, that the blasts in North Ossetia represented "Russia’s measures against Georgia."

"Unlike Ukraine [where gas supplies were cut off by Russia over a price dispute], the measures undertaken [by Russia] against Georgia, were less notable, but more impressive, [to the international community]," the authors said. According to Papava and Starr, recent developments in Georgia represent part of Russia’s new policy to build an energy monopoly in post-Soviet countries.

Editor�s Note: Diana Petriashvili is a freelance writer in Tbilisi.

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

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