RUSSIA CONTINUES PULLING BACK TROOPS FROM GEORGIA - RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY
21 August
Russia continued pulling back units of the 58th army of the Northern Caucasus Military District from Georgian territory, which were sent to the Georgia-Ossetia conflict area to support the Russian peacekeepers, the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax. "The second troop train is currently being pulled back," Interfax was told. A large Russian military column, which was moving from the Georgian administrative border, entered the eastern part of Tskhinvali around 9:00 a.m. Moscow time. The column is composed of over forty units of equipment, including armored vehicles and artillery. The column did not stop in Tskhinvali and headed towards North Ossetia. Earlier this week, Russian General Staff deputy chief Anatoly Nogovitsyn said Russia will fulfill all its obligations to withdraw troops from Georgia enshrined in the six settlement principles agreed upon by the presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and Nicolas Sarkozy of France. "We will fulfill all our obligations based on the six principles," Nogovitsyn told a briefing in Moscow. (Interfax)
BRIDGE BLAST PARALYZES WORK OF GEORGIAN BLACK SEA PORTS
21 August
The explosion of a bridge near the city of Kaspi, 45 km west of Tbilisi, which was blown up last Saturday, disrupting railway transportation between the eastern and western parts of Georgia, has paralyzed the work of the Georgia's Black Sea ports. "We are looking forward to the restoration of railway transportation, which will help the port to resume normal operation," the Poti Sea Port corporation told Interfax. The port is currently receiving cargo, which has already filled up its warehouses, the port administration told Interfax. This situation has seriously restricted operations in the ports of Batumi and Kulevi, which are used to transport a lot of oil and petroleum products from Azerbaijan and other Caspian countries. "The last tanker carrying Azerbaijani oil was loaded two days ago and the terminal has stood idle ever since," the Kulevi Oil Terminal company, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) told Interfax. The restoration of the bridge and railways in the Kaspi area is going at an accelerated rate, Georgian Railways told Interfax. "In about a week the bridge will be restored and railways transportation will resume," the company told Interfax. (Interfax)
TEN GEORGIAN POLICEMEN EARLIER DETAINED NEAR POTI RELEASED
21 August
Ten of the 22 Georgian policemen who were detained by Russian forces near the Georgian port of Poti earlier this week have been released, a Georgian Interior Ministry source told Interfax. The remaining 12 policemen are expected to be released on Friday, he said. Earlier, a commander of the CIS collective peacekeeping forces, General Major Yevgeny Ustinov, told reporters that a group of 22 Georgian servicemen had been detained during a special operation near Poti in the early hours of Tuesday. "They were armed with automatic assault rifles, machine-guns and grenade launchers and had large amounts of ammunition and trotyl," the general said. The group was riding in five Humvees accompanied by a truck, he said. Reporters were shown the weapons seized from the group. The arrested servicemen claimed they had been on their way to Poti to receive humanitarian cargoes. But the port has its own guard and its director could not provide any explanation for the incident, the general said. (Interfax)
RUSSIA WILL NOT CONSULT WITH SAAKASHVILI ON BUFFER ZONE PARAMETERS INCONFLICT REGIONS – NOGOVITSYN
22 August
Russia will not hold consultations with the Georgian leadership on the parameters of the buffer zones in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "We'll not consult with Mr. Saakashvili on the buffer zone," Russian General Staff Deputy Head Anatoly Nogovitsyn told journalists in Moscow on Friday. Nogovitsyn said that Russian peacekeepers were stationed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in compliance with international and bilateral agreements, and that Georgia, by launching its aggression against South Ossetia, unilaterally violated the agreements. "By starting the aggression this president declared a unilateral violation of the existing agreements. Now he has neither the moral, nor the legal right to dictate terms. We do not see Georgian peacekeepers here," Nogovitsyn said, noting that the peacekeeping operation will be performed by Russia peacekeepers. "Concerning the moods of this kind, they are on his conscience. He had ample opportunity to fulfill the peacekeeping mission. He himself gave it up," Nogovitsyn said in remarks about the Georgian president's statement that the buffer zones in Abkhazia and South Ossetia were unacceptable for Tbilisi. (Interfax)
NATO CONFIRMS GEORGIA WILL JOIN ALLIANCE
22 August
Georgia will become a NATO member eventually and the country is on a path to being included in the Membership Action Plan (MAP), a program to help nations seeking to join the North Atlantic alliance, a senior NATO envoy confirmed on Friday. Robert Simmons, NATO special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, who made the announcement at a briefing in Tbilisi, did not say when MAP would be extended to Georgia. (Interfax)
AFGHANISTAN CONCLUDES 90 CIVILIANS KILLED IN COALITION AIR STRIKE
24 August
The head of the Afghan parliament's Defense and Territorial Integrity Committee says faulty intelligence from Afghan officials led to coalition air strikes on August 22 that killed 90 civilians in the western province of Herat. Mohammad Iqbal Safi told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan about the allegations of negligence against two senior Afghan military officials who have been sacked as a result of a government investigation. "Both officials in the region have been dismissed because they transferred incorrect information to the Defense Ministry and the presidential office," Safi said. "They have reported the presence of Pakistani individuals, militants from Chechnya, and Taliban militants, which was not true.” It was on the recommendation of Afghan investigators that President Hamid Karzai sacked Brigadier General Jalandar Shah, commander of the Afghan National Army's 207 Zafar Military Corps in Herat, and Major Abdul Jabar, leader of commando forces in the same region. The investigation found that of the 90 civilians killed in the village of Azizabad in the Shindand district of Herat Province, about 60 of them were children or teenagers and 15 were women. A survivor of the August 22 air strike in Azizabad village in Shindand district of Herat Province told RFE/RL that he lost 11 family members in the bombing. “The district governor [of Shindand district] has grievances with the residents of Zer Koh [where Azizabad village is located]," the man said. "He gave them wrong information, and they bombed us all and spared nobody.” The incident has further inflamed tensions over the issue of civilian deaths in Afghanistan. Residents of Shindad district protested the bombing on August 23 by refusing government aid and blocking the main Herat to Kandahar highway for a few hours. Villagers in Azizabad threw stones at Afghan soldiers who tried to give them food and clothing. Some reports suggested that eight people were wounded when Afghan soldiers opened fire at protesters in Azizababad. Afghan officials and human rights activists say the August 22 bombing occurred as villagers in Azizabad had gathered for a memorial ceremony for a local pro-government militia commander who had been killed. Humayun Hamidzada, a spokesman for Karzai, told RFE/RL on August 23 that the air strike in Azizabad village had been carried out without consultations with Afghan officials. He said the Afghan government condemns the incident and will follow its investigation with concrete actions. (RFE/RL)
FUEL TRAIN FIRE NEAR GORI CONTAINED
24 August
Firefighters managed to contain the fire, which erupted as a result of a powerful explosion at the Georgian military base Sunday near the village of Skra within eighth kilometers from Gori on Sunday and spread on the rolling stock carrying petroleum products on the stretch of line between Gori and Khashuri. "The fire which spread to fuel tanks has been almost contained by now," Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told journalists after arriving at the scene. Train traffic will resume on this stretch in the next two or three hours, he said. "Traffic will also resume on the adjacent second railway line already in half an hour," the minister said. The explosion damaged two transmission line supports, which resulted in a blackout in the town of Kareli, the ministry said. As a result of the explosion at the military base in Skra two 100- kilovolt transmission lines were broken, leaving 6,500 people without power, Georgia's former united distributing energy company Energo-PRO told Interfax. "All steps are being taken to restore the transmission lines and to resume power supplies to the area, which is expected to take about two days," said a company spokesman. Meanwhile, Georgian media outlets said that a mine explosion in Gori on Sunday killed a woman, and another local resident was killed in a mine blast in the village of Tirdznisi in Gori district. The exploded mines are the "presents" from the occupational troops," said Merabishili. The explosion at the Skra military base was also due to the fact the base area was mined by Russian forces, he said. (Interfax)
DAY OF NATIONAL MOURNING DECLARED FOR 65 KILLED IN KYRGYZ PLANE CRASH
25 August
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev has declared a national day of mourning on August 26 in memory of the 65 people who died in the crash of a Kyrgyz airliner. The plane crashed late on August 24, killing at least 65 of its 90 passengers. The officials say the crew reported a technical malfunction shortly after it took off from Manas International Airport, which is about 25 kilometers from the capital, Bishkek. They say the plane crashed as it was heading back to the airport. Kamchinbek Tashiev, the minister of emergency situations, told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service that rescue operations are nearly finished and that the bodies have been removed from the crash site and taken away for identification. Most of the passengers were Iranian and Kyrgyz nationals. "We have nearly finished the dismantling and cleaning of the wreckage. We've removed all the bodies," Tashiev said. "So far, there are some 20 people alive, in accordance with the preliminary data. There were citizens from a few countries, from three to four countries, including China, Kazakhstan, Canada, Iran, Kyrgyzstan. Both the plane and the crew were from Kyrgyzstan. The plane, a Boeing 737, was built in 1979." In a statement, the U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing expressed its condolences to the victims' families and friends. The crash survivors, most of whom suffered severe burns, are currently being treated in Bishkek hospitals. Three people without serious injuries were sent home. Many of the survivors are reported to be in grave condition. The government press office said all six Kyrgyz crew members and an Iranian aviation official were among the survivors. The Iran-bound plane was owned and operated by Kyrgystan’s Itek-Air. According to a list published by the European Union on July 24, Itek-Air is banned from flying to EU countries because of its failure to meet safety and aviation standards. (RFE/RL)
KEY GEORGIAN RAIL LINE REOPENS AFTER EXPLOSION
25 August
Georgia's main east-west railway was reopened overnight following a fuel-train explosion on the line west of the central town of Gori, Georgian Railways has said. Railways spokeswoman Irma Stepnadze said damage to the line was limited. "Railway traffic has been restored," she said. The explosion, which police said they believed was caused by a land mine, occurred on the main track of the railway line linking eastern and western Georgia -- a route used by oil exports from Azerbaijan to European markets. Azerbaijani officials said on August 24 that oil cargoes were being held up at the border with Georgia following the explosion. Russian troops left Gori, a key town in the Russia-Georgia conflict over breakaway South Ossetia, on August 22 after a 10-day occupation. The explosion occurred near an abandoned Georgian military base. On August 16, an explosion downed a bridge on the line further east near the town of Kaspi. Russia denied Georgian accusations that it was behind the attack. Oil exports were disrupted, but Azerbaijan said Georgia had offered a smaller, disused rail bridge for use until the damaged bridge was repaired. (Reuters)
RUSSIA HAS NEVER GIVEN CONSENT TO REPLACE PEACEKEEPERS WITH OSCE FORCE
25 August
Russia has never given its consent to the replacement of Russian peacekeepers in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone with forces of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Russian General Staff Deputy Head Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said. "Since the Medvedev and Sarkozy plan is being interpreted differently, we have to state once again that Russia has never given its consent to a replacement of Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone with OSCE forces," Nogovitsyn said on Monday, opening a press briefing for Russian and foreign reporters. (Interfax)
UN SAYS IT HAS EVIDENCE COALITION AIR STRIKES KILLED 90 AFGHANS
26 August
The United Nations says it has found convincing evidence that 90 Afghan civilians, most of them children, were killed in air strikes by U.S.-led coalition forces in western Afghanistan last week. The issue of civilian casualties has driven a rift between the Afghan government and its NATO backers, with President Hamid Karzai saying earlier this month that air strikes had achieved nothing and had only succeeded in killing ordinary Afghans. "Investigations by UNAMA [United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan] found convincing evidence, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, and others, that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, 15 women and 15 men," UN Special Envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide said in a statement. The U.S. military has launched an investigation into the incident, after first saying it was unaware of any civilian casualties in what it said was an air strike on a known Taliban commander that killed 30 militants. The Afghan government on August 25 ordered the review of operations by foreign forces amid mounting discontent over civilian casualties nearly seven years after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban, the presidential spokesman said. The order foresees a set of laws to be drafted in consultation with foreign forces and then approved by the Afghan parliament, Humayun Hamidzada told a regular press briefing. It says the presence of the international community in Afghanistan must be reviewed through mutual agreement and reiterates previous government demands on banning air strikes on civilian targets, uncoordinated house searches, and the illegal detention of Afghan civilians. "The authorities and responsibilities of the international forces in Afghanistan must be regulated through a 'status of force agreement' consistent with both international and Afghan laws," the order says. Hamidzada did not have a figure for civilian killed in foreign military operations. But he said: "The patience of the Afghan people has ran out. We no longer can afford to see the killing of our children." (Reuters)
MEDVEDEV SIGNS DECREES TO RECOGNIZE ABKHAZIA, S OSSETIA
26 August
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed decrees on the recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “Proceeding from the current situation a decision had to be made,” Medvedev said in a statement issued on Tuesday. “Bearing in mind the free expression of their will by the Ossetian and Abkhazian peoples, and guided by the UN Charter, the declaration of 1970 on the principles of international law regarding friendly relations between states, the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and other fundamental international documents I have signed decrees on the recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by the Russian Federation.” Medvedev called on all other countries to follow suit. “That was a no easy choice to make, but it is the sole chance of saving people’s lives,” he said. (Itar-Tass)
IRAN EXPORTING AZERI OIL
26 August
Oil exports from Azerbaijan have moved to European markets through Iran following regional disruptions in transportation, the Islamic [1] Republic said Tuesday. A fire at a pumping station on a section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in eastern Turkey in early August halted the flow of roughly 1 percent of the world's oil. A conflict in Georgia with Russia over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia further disrupted oil transports. The Iranian Press TV Tuesday reported Azerbaijan delivered oil to the National Iranian Oil Terminals Co. for transportation. Other reports Tuesday said BTC operations had returned to normal. Iran said it has transferred Azeri oil shipments from the Sangachal terminal south of Baku to the Neka port of Iran in the Caspian Sea. Oil is then exported to world markets from the Khark Island terminal in the Persian Gulf, Press TV said. Last week officials with the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic said they would not look to Iran for oil exports if BTC was in full operation. (UPI)
SOUTH OSSETIA SHAKES UP OIL DIPLOMACY
28 August
Oil diplomacy may be the focus of a visit to the Caucasus by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney [2] as regional tensions threaten Western-backed energy [3] routes. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline from the Caspian Sea port of Baku in Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey through Georgia is seen by the West as a key asset for Europe, which is struggling to ease dependence on Russian energy. Cheney heads to the region Tuesday to relay concerns over the security of energy routes as tensions mount in the wake of the conflict between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia. BP Azerbaijan said the BTC line returned to full capacity this week, to the pleasure of Georgian officials, The Financial Times said Thursday. "Russia had failed to gain control of Caspian and Central Asian oil export routes across the Caucasus," said Secretary of the Georgian Security Council Alexander Lomaia. BTC is also meant to discourage incentives to Iran from its oil and natural gas [4] reserves, though Azerbaijan temporarily exported oil to Iran during the Georgian conflict. Though U.S. policy requires a waiver for American energy firms to deal with Iran, a fallout in Russian relations may prompt a policy reversal. (UPI)
MOSCOW REGRETS TBILISI’S WISH TO BREAK OFF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
29 August
Moscow regrets the decision of Tbilisi to break off diplomatic relations.“We regret that the Georgian side has taken this step,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said on Friday. “That will not help bilateral relations.” “The possible end of diplomatic relations with Georgia is not the choice of Moscow, and Tbilisi will have to bear the entire responsibility,” he said. “We must maintain contacts in the sphere of interests of average citizens,” Nesterenko said. “It will take a lot of effort to restore relations.” (Itar-Tass)
ABKHAZIA READY TO GIVE TERRITORY TO RF FOR GEOPOLITICAL GOALS
29 August
Abkhazia is ready to let Russia realize its geopolitical goals in its territory, Abkhazian Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba said at an expanded meeting of the republic's parliament on Friday. "In exchange, we only ask for security guarantees for our people," Shamba underlined. Russia has core interests in Akbhazia, which has always been a geostrategic region in the world, according to the foreign minister. Shamba underlined that the road to Abkhazia's recognition had been difficult and long. "We've achieved it 15 years after the sanguinary war. We were recognized by the largest country, a nuclear power - Russia -- a member of the UN Security Council," he underlined. At the same time, he noted that much painstaking work was ahead, aimed at recognition of Abkhazia by other states. "The most important thing for us is the safety of citizens and economic prosperity. We'll be working on these two issues with Russia, even if the whole world does not recognize Abkhazia for the time being," Shamba said. (Itar-Tass)
OWNER OF RUSSIAN OPPOSITION WEBSITE KILLED
31 August
The owner of an opposition Internet news site in Russia's troubled Ingushetia region has been shot dead after police detained him, his colleagues said. Magomed Yevloyev, owner of the ingushetiya.ru website, was a vocal critic of the region's Kremlin-backed administration, which is accused by critics of crushing dissent and free speech. Interfax quoted the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office as saying an investigation into the death had been launched. A posting on Yevloyev's site -- which has been the subject of repeated official attempts to close it down -- said he was shot after police detained him when he landed at Ingushetia's airport. It said he was taken to hospital but died from his injuries. The site also called on "all those who are not indifferent" to his killing to gather for a demonstration in Nazran, Ingushetia's biggest town. "A preliminary investigation has been launched into the death of M. Yevloyev," Interfax news agency quoted Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the investigations unit of the Prosecutor-General's Office in Moscow, as saying. Ingushetia's Kremlin-backed leader, President Murat Zyazikov, has been struggling to contain a low-level insurgency led by Islamist militants. His critics accuse him of persecuting opposition activists and reporters, an allegation he denies. Ingushetia is in Russia's North Caucasus region and neighbors Chechnya, scene of a separatist rebellion that has now been largely quelled. Zyazikov has criticized the reporting by ingushetiya.ru and brought a court case earlier this year seeking to close it down.
Interfax quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying Yevloyev was shot by accident. "While police officers were attempting to transfer M. Yevloyev to an Interior Ministry office, an incident occurred in which M. Yevloyev received a gunshot wound to the temple area," the agency quoted the source as saying. (Reuters)
CHENEY IN AZERBAIJAN FOR ENERGY TALKS
3 September
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney [5] was in Azerbaijan Wednesday for briefings on energy supplies in the oil- and natural gas-rich nation. Cheney wants to ensure a diversity of energy and stable supply routes from Azerbaijan, a key U.S. alley that borders Georgia -- Cheney's next stop, CNN reported Wednesday. Cheney is to be briefed in Georgia on Russia's recent incursion and continuing military presence in the former Soviet republic, CNN reported. Russia's military escalation means the United States and Europe must do everything possible to ensure a diverse energy infrastructure to lessen Europe's reliance on Russia as a key energy provider, a senior U.S. official told CNN. "The level of confidence and trust that people have in Russia's overall reliability has been put in serious question," said the official. Cheney is scheduled to visit Ukraine Friday and then fly to Italy to address the annual Ambrosetti Forum on Lake Como, CNN reported. (UPI)
RUSSIA, UZBEKISTAN REACH AGREEMENT ON NEW NATURAL GAS PIPELINE
3 September
Russia and Uzbekistan agreed Tuesday to build a new natural gas pipeline through Uzbekistan to export Turkmen and Uzbek natural gas, said news reaching Almaty Tuesday from Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. The two countries have agreed on joint construction of the pipeline to meet the challenge of increasing gas export from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, said visiting Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin after talks with Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Relevant documents would hopefully be signed recently and the two countries also agreed on a European gas pricing formula for the purchase of Uzbek gas, Putin said. Natural gas produced in the central Asia is currently sent to Russia via a pipeline built in the Soviet era, which has become incapable of handling the increasing demands for gas exporting in the region in recent years, Karimov said. A new pipeline running parallel with the 1974 Central Asia-Center pipeline network will not only conform with Uzbekistan's commercial interests, but also boost the Uzbek-Russian relations, said the president. The pipeline project, upon completion, will form the biggest natural gas transmission network in central Asia. (Xinhua)
Russian contractors pour in to rebuild S. Ossetia
3 September
A new Russian invasion is taking place in South Ossetia, as hundreds of construction workers pour in to rebuild this shattered separatist capital. Just weeks after the Russian military routed Georgian forces here, Russia is funding a substantial reconstruction effort for its ally — and builder Igor Semyonov is proud just to be a part of it. Semyonov stood in the center of what is now called Three Tank Square, where the scorched remains of Georgian tanks are surrounded by battle-scarred buildings — including one with a tank turret sitting on its front steps. "It will be more beautiful than ever," the Russian builder promised as he worked to reconstruct a shattered labor union headquarters. Russian authorities have dispatched 500 construction workers to repair and rebuild scores of damaged or destroyed administrative buildings and schools, as well as the region's main hospital in Tskhinvali. It's a massive aid effort made possible by Russia's oil-fueled economic resurgence. Znaur Gassiyev, speaker of South Ossetia's legislature, said it will cost US$400 million to repair the destruction. In addition to the construction effort, South Ossetian Prime Minister Boris Chochiyev said that Russia has promised to pay South Ossetians up to US$2,000 each in compensation for war damage. Russia has provided financial, military and political support to South Ossetia, as well as another separatist-held Georgian territory, Abkhazia, since the early 1990s. Last year alone, Russia spent an estimated US$66 million in subsidies for South Ossetia, Gassiyev said. The territory has no economy of its own and Russian subsidies are its only source of income, officials here said. Russia is the only country to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations. Over the next few years, many expect Moscow formally to annex one or both of them — calling their citizens victims of Georgian aggression. (AP)
RUSSIA SUSPENDS ISSUANCE OF VISAS TO GEORGIAN CITIZENS IN TBILISI
3 September
Russian Consulate in the Georgian capital Tbilisi has suspended the issuance of Russian travel visas to Georgian citizens, officials at the Foreign Ministry told Itar-Tass. Earlier Wednesday, the ministry’s official spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said the Consulate in Tbilisi had been duly performing its functions and issuing visas to Georgian citizens but the process had been suspended. “While breaking off diplomatic relations with Russia, the Georgian side should have thought about the interests of a million or so Georgians living in Russia,” Nesterenko said. “If it thought it would still enjoy an opportunity of having visa services after the severing of diplomatic relations, we’d like to have a closer look at the situation then and make some special conclusions for ourselves.” “It looks like the Georgian government wants to break off diplomatic relations but retain consulate functions of some kind at the same time, and we’d like to see how they understand these functions,” Nesterenko said. “If they mean the keeping of registers of civil acts and authentication of documents, this can be done, but if they want to have full-scale visa services in the absence of diplomatic relations then we’d like to have a closer look of the situation,” Nesterenko said. He indicated that an anomalous situation is taking shape in Russian-Georgian relations. (Itar-Tass)