Georgia: Tbilisi Claims Political Victory Following PACE Adoption of Resolution

Georgian political experts and politicians are applauding the adoption of a resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe concerning Russia's August incursion into Georgia.

The October 2 resolution was approved after two days of heated debate within the parliamentary assembly. It criticized both Russia and Georgia for "human rights and humanitarian law violations" and noted that both sides were guilty of the "indiscriminate use" of force, including actions that possibly constituted war crimes.

In response to earlier proposals by both Moscow and Tbilisi, PACE said it would establish a special committee to investigate the origins of the fighting, as well as an ad hoc committee to address Georgia's frozen conflicts with the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Despite the criticism of Tbilisi's actions, Georgian analysts, such as Kakha Gogolashvili, director of European Union Studies at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies in Tbilisi, argued that the document generally favored Georgia's position on the war.

The resolution addresses two topics of great concern for Georgia, Gogolashvili argued: it admonished Russia for its failure to "respect the principle of proportionality" and supported Tbilisi's accusations of ethnic cleansing in South Ossetia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In addition, the Council of Europe demanded that Moscow annul its decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"[A]ll the necessary things are put there: [the accusations of] ethnic cleansing, the recognition of Russian aggression," Gogolashvili said.

Georgian Parliamentary Speaker Davit Bakradze called the resolution a "serious weapon" that Georgia can use in its ongoing propaganda struggle with Russia.

In an October 3 statement, Bakradze commended the Council of Europe for supporting Georgia's claims that ethnic cleansing took place in Georgian villages within South Ossetia and the adjoining "buffer zone" -- uncontested Georgian territory currently occupied by Russian soldiers -- while the areas were under Russian control. Moscow is on record as saying it will begin its pullout from the South Ossetia buffer zone on October 8, Interfax reported.

"The [PACE] document ? will help the country to demand [an] answer from organizers of the ethnic cleansing of Georgians," Bakradze told a news conference. "Such an evaluation provides direct grounds for Georgia to demand that all international organizations, including international courts, condemn and punish the organizers and patrons of ethnic cleansing."

Bakradze also praised the document for setting the start of the conflict at a point well before the Georgian army started its assault on Tskhinvali on August 7. The Georgian government has stated that its constituted a response to repeated South Ossetian shelling of Georgian villages and to the alleged movement of Russian military forces into South Ossetia.

Members of Russia's PACE delegation were displeased with the final language contained in the resolution. Konstantin Kosachev, the delegation's head, called the document "controversial" and complained of "numerous factual inaccuracies and legal repugnancies."

Salome Zourabichvili, a former French ambassador to Georgia and Georgian foreign minister, questioned the resolution's importance. "I do not consider that it is [a] very important moment. It is more for internal use," she said.

Zourabichvili, now the leader of the opposition party Georgia's Way, noted that the October 15 Geneva peace talks about the Russia-Georgia conflict should be a higher priority. "Where Georgian positions have to be defended today is not in the Council of Europe, it is in the negotiations that are coming. That is where the fate of our refugees -- where the fate of the territories lost during the war -- has to be decided."

PACE demanded that Moscow fulfill its obligations under the six-point cease-fire proposal signed in August by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and also to withdraw its troops from uncontested Georgian territory by October 10.

Russian troops began leaving the "buffer zone" on October 5, according to Georgian and international media reports. But political scientist Giorgi Khutsishvili noted that there is little evidence the Council of Europe will take any serious action against Russia if it reneges on any part of the agreement. "The Europeans are preoccupied with a thousand things and its not clear that in the instance that Russia does not withdraw forces from the buffer zone, Europe will actually react," Khutsishvili said in an interview on the eve of the PACE resolution's publication.

The resolution specifically states that "dialogue is the best way forward." A Georgian-led attempt to revoke accreditation for the Russian delegation to PACE failed to secure passage, although the assembly indicated that Moscow should be on its best behavior.