Hundreds of ethnic Georgians confronted Russian peacekeeping forces in the breakaway region of South Ossetia Thursday, throwing paint and gasoline on them and forcing them to stop blocking a road project, officials said.
Popularity: 14% [?]
June 29, 2007A convoy of Russian military hardware and other equipment left the Georgian capital Thursday en route to a base in Armenia.
Popularity: 1% [?]
November 17, 2006Voters in Georgia’s breakaway Republic of South Ossetia will head to the polls on November 12 to choose a new president and to participate in a referendum on the unrecognized republic’s independent status, RFE/RL reports.
Popularity: 2% [?]
November 15, 2006Five people have been killed and two wounded when an explosion hit a petrol station in Georgia’s capital city of Tbilisi, Gazeta.ru reports.
According to the preliminary information, up to eight people could be at the filling station at the time of the explosion that made oxygen bombs detonate.
Rescuers have extinguished the fire and continue to look for more possible victims.
Popularity: 2% [?]
October 27, 2006Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it had protested to the United Nations about Russia’s crackdown on illegal Georgian migrants, demanding a stop to what it called “persecution on ethnic groundsâ€, AP reports.
The ministry said in a statement that it had turned over materials “on violation of Georgian citizens’ rights†to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other international organizations.
Moscow responded to Georgia’s brief detention of four alleged Russian spies last month with a sweeping transport and postal blockade and a crackdown on Georgian migrants in Russia — sanctions the Kremlin has refused to drop despite Western calls for restraint.
Russia and Georgia have had a history of friction since they went their separate ways with the 1991 Soviet collapse. That tension increased after Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in 2004, pledging to bring separatist regions back into fold, bolster ties with the West and lead his nation to join NATO in 2008.
Georgian officials sharply criticized Russia’s tough actions, particularly the deportations of an estimated 800 ethnic Georgians allegedly caught working illegally in Russia and the harassment of Georgian-owned businesses.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Russian authorities had requested schools and universities to provide lists of people with Georgian surnames as part of the continuing crackdown on Georgians in Russia.
It urged Russia “to stop persecutions on ethnic grounds, safeguard universally recognized human rights and freedoms and solve existing political problems through talks and constructive dialogue.â€
The ministry said Tuesday that Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili would visit Moscow for talks next week, the first high-level contact since the worst post-Soviet crisis in bilateral relations erupted last month.
Bezhuashvili talked with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov over the phone Tuesday and they agreed to meet in Moscow on Nov. 1-2 at the sidelines of a conference of Black Sea nations, the ministry said.
Popularity: 1% [?]
“We are asking the Georgians and the Russians to do everything they can to de-escalate the tensions,†Rice told reporters traveling with her from Beijing to Moscow.
Rice, who arrived in Russia on a one-day visit, said she was very concerned about persistent tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow and especially the “frozen conflicts†of breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
“I think we have been clear with both sides that cooler heads need to prevail here,†said Rice, pledging to raise the issue in her meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
The latest crisis between the two former Soviet states stemmed from Georgia’s brief detention of four Russian servicemen on suspicion of espionage.
They were released after international mediation but Russia cut sea, air rail and postal links and ordered the deportation of hundreds of Georgians it said were illegal immigrants.
Putin on Friday told European Union leaders in Finland that Georgia was risking bloodshed by seeking to regain control over the regions by military means.
“The rhetoric really needs to be lowered,†Rice said. “I would be especially concerned that there would be no rhetoric which might encourage activity —- military, provocative activity in these frozen conflicts of Abkhazia or South Ossetia.â€
She added: “I think that (military action) is the kind of problem that could get out of control. I will talk to the Russians about that problem.â€
Popularity: 2% [?]
October 23, 2006
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