J-10
06-11-2004, 06:54 AM
Friday June 11, 2004 10:16 PM
By JIM HEINTZ
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - A top Russian diplomat met Friday with U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow to complain about Georgia's briefly sending U.S.-trained Georgian troops into a separatist region.
The South Ossetia region of Georgia, which has been de-facto independent since an 18-month separatist war ended in 1992, has been increasingly uneasy since Georgia sent the troops into the region last month.
South Ossetia's president Eduard Kokoity said, meanwhile, that the region's security forces have been put on alert amid rumors that hundreds of ethnic Georgians who fled the region during the fighting would try to return Saturday, the Interfax news agency reported.
Since the end of the fighting, South Ossetia has been patrolled by a peacekeeping force of Russians, Ossetians and Georgians. Georgian officials said the dispatching of troops to the region last month was only to build up Georgia's contingent of peacekeepers.
However, the move alarmed South Ossetian officials already nervous over Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's vow to bring the region back under Georgian control.
Although Russia does not officially recognize South Ossetia's government, it has close ties with the region and in recent weeks has frequently sharply criticized Georgia's actions as provocative. Many officials also resented the U.S. program to train Georgian troops, which began in 2002.
First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchinin told Vershbow that Russia feels ``serious anxiety in connection with the fact that, despite earlier assurances, a unit trained under the American program of military cooperation with Georgia took part in the provocative actions of the Georgian government in South Ossetia,'' a ministry statement said.
``This is a negative influence on the situation in the conflict zone,'' the statement said.
Vershbow was not immediately available for comment. But he said on Ekho Moskvy radio Thursday: ``We are interested in all separatist conflicts in the Caucasus being ended. ... We hope that all Russians, regardless of their politics, reject the call of the South Ossetian side to be joined with North Ossetia because that would be a crude violation of Georgia's territorial integrity.''
South Ossetia borders the Russian republic of North Ossetia. About 80 percent of the residents of South Ossetia use Russian passports and the Russian ruble is the currency of choice in the region.
After the Georgian troops were sent to South Ossetia and withdrawn the same day, tensions rose as the motorcade of Saakashvili's wife was blocked from entering the regional capital, Tskhinvali, and South Ossetian officials turned back Georgia's agriculture minister and a convoy of fertilizer for the region's farmers.
Saakashvili has vowed to bring South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia, under Georgian control through peaceful means. This spring, a crisis over control of the Adzharia autonomous region ended with Adzharian leader Aslan Abashidze fleeing to Russia in the wake of growing street protests.
From (http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4194834,00.html)
By JIM HEINTZ
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - A top Russian diplomat met Friday with U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow to complain about Georgia's briefly sending U.S.-trained Georgian troops into a separatist region.
The South Ossetia region of Georgia, which has been de-facto independent since an 18-month separatist war ended in 1992, has been increasingly uneasy since Georgia sent the troops into the region last month.
South Ossetia's president Eduard Kokoity said, meanwhile, that the region's security forces have been put on alert amid rumors that hundreds of ethnic Georgians who fled the region during the fighting would try to return Saturday, the Interfax news agency reported.
Since the end of the fighting, South Ossetia has been patrolled by a peacekeeping force of Russians, Ossetians and Georgians. Georgian officials said the dispatching of troops to the region last month was only to build up Georgia's contingent of peacekeepers.
However, the move alarmed South Ossetian officials already nervous over Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's vow to bring the region back under Georgian control.
Although Russia does not officially recognize South Ossetia's government, it has close ties with the region and in recent weeks has frequently sharply criticized Georgia's actions as provocative. Many officials also resented the U.S. program to train Georgian troops, which began in 2002.
First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchinin told Vershbow that Russia feels ``serious anxiety in connection with the fact that, despite earlier assurances, a unit trained under the American program of military cooperation with Georgia took part in the provocative actions of the Georgian government in South Ossetia,'' a ministry statement said.
``This is a negative influence on the situation in the conflict zone,'' the statement said.
Vershbow was not immediately available for comment. But he said on Ekho Moskvy radio Thursday: ``We are interested in all separatist conflicts in the Caucasus being ended. ... We hope that all Russians, regardless of their politics, reject the call of the South Ossetian side to be joined with North Ossetia because that would be a crude violation of Georgia's territorial integrity.''
South Ossetia borders the Russian republic of North Ossetia. About 80 percent of the residents of South Ossetia use Russian passports and the Russian ruble is the currency of choice in the region.
After the Georgian troops were sent to South Ossetia and withdrawn the same day, tensions rose as the motorcade of Saakashvili's wife was blocked from entering the regional capital, Tskhinvali, and South Ossetian officials turned back Georgia's agriculture minister and a convoy of fertilizer for the region's farmers.
Saakashvili has vowed to bring South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia, under Georgian control through peaceful means. This spring, a crisis over control of the Adzharia autonomous region ended with Adzharian leader Aslan Abashidze fleeing to Russia in the wake of growing street protests.
From (http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4194834,00.html)