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EURASIA INSIGHT

RUSSIA HITS BACK AT GEORGIA IN DRONE SHOOT-DOWN FLAP
Sergei Blagov 4/23/08

In trying to parry Georgian accusations of thuggish behavior connected with the shoot-down of an unmanned reconnaissance plane over Abkhazia, Russia is adhering to the maxim �the best defense is a good offense.’

Georgian leaders have distributed a video, said to be from the destroyed drone, showing what appears to be a MiG-29 firing an air-to-air missile. Russian officials have steadfastly denied that one of their military jets was involved in the April 20 incident. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. On April 23, the Russian ambassador to Georgia, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, repeated Kremlin claims that Abkhaz defense forces were responsible for bringing down the reconnaissance plane. Georgian officials counter that Abkhaz forces do not possess MiG-29s.

Russian officials also charge that what they characterize as "spy plane" flights constitute a violation of the 1994 ceasefire agreement covering the Abkhazia conflict. The flights additionally flout United Nations Security Council decisions relating to peacekeeping operations in the conflict zone, Russian diplomats assert.

Far from accepting blame, a wide variety of Russian officials, as well as state-controlled media, portray the incident as instigated by Tbilisi. "It is another provocative demarche that will lead to nothing but the further deterioration of an already tense situation," the official RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Leonid Slutsky, the first deputy chairman of the Russian Duma’s International Affairs Committee, as saying.

The UN Security Council was scheduled to hold a closed-door session on April 23, during which Russia planned to present evidence that would discredit the Georgian version of events. "I assure you that we have a lot to say at the session about the unconstructive, even provocative actions by the Georgian side," Vitaly Churkin, the Russia’s UN representative, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper on April 23.

Meanwhile, a commentary distributed by the Interfax news agency accused President Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration in Tbilisi of trying to divert attention from its own failings. "For about two decades now, politicians in Tbilisi have blamed all of the nation’s woes on Russia," the commentary said. "The phrase �Russia’s hand’ has become a universal explanation of Georgia’s failed policies towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia."

The state-run Vesti television channel accused Saakashvili of creating a crisis in order to bolster the chances that his National Movement Party can retain a commanding parliamentary majority in upcoming legislative elections. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Representatives of Russian peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia repeated accusations that Tbilisi was striving to push them out of the conflict zone. On April 21, a spokesman for the Russian peacekeepers, Alexander Diordiyev, attributed a recent electricity outage at a facility in the Zugdidi Region to a deliberate act by a Georgian power company.

On April 21, outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin had what appeared to be a heated telephone conversation with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. In dismissing the Georgian accusation, Putin reportedly told Saakashvili that the Georgian reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia fueled tension in the region. Putin likewise defended Russia’s decision to expand economic relations with Georgia’s two separatist territories � Abkhazia and South Ossetia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Georgian officials had demanded that Russia rescind its decision to strengthen ties to two regions, saying that it violated Georgia’s sovereignty.

Just about a month ago, it appeared as though Russian-Georgian ties were on the mend. Many observers saw Moscow’s late March decision to allow a resumption of direct air traffic between the two states as the beginning of a resumption of full trade ties. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Moscow imposed a wide variety of economic sanctions in 2006 in response to several bilateral disputes, including Georgian efforts to reduce Russia’s peacekeeping role in South Ossetia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Georgian outrage over the drone shoot down left some Russian diplomats in an indignant mood. "We keep hearing the Georgian side say �Russia must do this’ and �Russia is obligated to do that.’ Let the Georgian side start taking reciprocal steps," said Kovalenko, the Russian envoy in Tbilisi, referring to Moscow’s recent moves to improve ties. "It is not the way to talk to a sovereign state, not to mention Russia. Reciprocal steps should be made; some good will must be shown in response to the good will shown by Russia."

Editor�s Note: Sergei Blagov is a Moscow-based specialist in CIS political affairs.

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