Russia's Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev claimed that Georgia is harboring anti-Russia terrorists, in an interview with the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty on Wednesday:
“The multi-ethnic peoples of Russia and Georgia are inextricably tied to each other. Saakashvili is carrying out a policy that is far from the interests of the Georgian people. More and more Georgian soldiers are being sent to take part in combat operations abroad [in ISAF operation in Afghanistan]. Training of individuals for carrying out terrorist acts in Russia is conducted on the territory of Georgia”, Patrushev said.
To some observers, the timing of that statement is suspicious, coming just days after the huge protests that have made the Russian government look vulnerable for the first time since Vladimir Putin took power in 2000. The Georgian government-run PIK-TV suggested that Patrushev's comments were meant to distract people from internal issues and rally around the central government. Their video report is in Russian, but helpfully subtitled in English. They interview Giorgi Baramidze, minister for Euro-Atlantic integration:
“Unfortunately it is not the first stupid and groundless statement that the Russian government has made. It is likely to have been caused by the intensified tension in its internal politics.”
And Alexey Malashenko, of the Carnegie Moscow Center:
“One needs to consolidate power, whatever its character. What pretext can they use? A foreign threat, which can come from anywhere, regardless whether it's Georgia or Finland. The important thing is to point to an external threat, especially a terrorist one. It's just another reason for people to rally around the sitting government instead of attending the Bolotnaya Square protests. When people are aware of their weakness, being unable to act effectively, they always point to an outside adversary which causes all the trouble.”
If that was the Kremlin's goal, it was a pretty weak attempt. Patrushev's comments, from what I've seen, got a lot more press in Georgia than they did in Russia. A serious effort at changing the subject in Moscow would have involved Putin making the claims himself, and presenting some incendiary details and evidence, even if it were manufactured. You can accuse Putin of a lot of things, but give him credit for being able to cook up a more effective scheme than this. Putin accusing the U.S. of instigating the unrest seemed more like an attempt at a diversion. That said, if there's any other logical explanation for the terrorism charge, it's not obvious.
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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