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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (43642)	9/12/2002 10:13:27 PM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Tbilisi Weighs Putin's Warning By Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili The Associated Press Itar-Tass Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze, at emergency Security Council talks, promised steps to defuse the crisis. TBILISI, Georgia -- Amid heightened tension, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and the nation's parliament on Thursday gloomily mulled over a response to the Kremlin's warning to wipe out Chechen rebels on their territory or face unilateral Russian military action. Shevardnadze chaired a meeting of his Security Council, and Georgia's parliament later gathered for an emergency session. Speaking after the council's meeting, which lasted four hours, Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze said the government would take both diplomatic and internal policy steps to defuse the crisis, but refused to give any details. Parliament Speaker Nino Burdzhanadze, who took part in the meeting, told reporters that government forces need to take "more resolute" action to disarm and arrest militants on Georgian territory. And the council's deputy secretary, Rusudan Beridze, said that Georgia was trying to find a third country that might be willing to accommodate militants, but so far has found none. President Vladimir Putin warned Georgia in a televised statement Wednesday that Russia would defend itself in line with the United Nations charter and its resolutions if the Georgian government fails to end rebels' raids into Chechnya across the border. Shevardnadze late last night called Putin's speech "hasty and groundless." Putin's warning came amid long-boiling tension between Russia and Georgia over the presence of militants in Georgia's lawless Pankisi Gorge near Chechnya, where Washington believes some militants could be linked to al-Qaida. In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and world leaders ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, Putin accused the Georgian leadership of harboring terrorists and outlined his case for taking military action to uproot them, the Kremlin press service said Thursday. The Georgian parliament took a similar tactic late Thursday, addressing a statement to the United Nations, NATO and other international organizations stating that Putin "has placed in front of Georgia the threat of aggression." Russia has long urged Georgia to allow its troops to flush the rebels out, but Georgia said it would do the job itself and invited U.S. military instructors to train its soldiers for anti-terror missions. Georgia sent troops to sweep Pankisi last month, but preceded the operation by warning the rebels to leave the area to avoid bloodshed. In the letter to world leaders, Putin accused Georgia of violating UN anti-terrorism resolutions by allowing terrorists to operate freely on its territory. He said the Georgian security sweep had not brought any concrete results because the militants knew about it in advance. Georgia countered Russia's accusations by saying that it was Russia that had driven the rebels into Georgia after the start of the second war in Chechnya in September 1999. David Gamkrelidze, a leading pro-government lawmaker, denounced Putin's statement as a cynical attempt to blame Georgia for its own failures in the Chechen war. Putin "forgot that Georgia is an independent country," Gamkrelidze said Thursday. But some opposition politicians criticized Shevardnadze for losing control over the situation. "We are seeing a president who is hunkered down" unable to find a way out of the crisis, said Georgy Baramidze, a leader of the Unified Democrats party. Putin said in the letter that any Russian action in Georgia would not be "directed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country," or "changing the political regime." Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters Thursday that the military was ready to launch strikes on militants in Georgia, but added that this "may not be needed," Interfax reported. Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov said Russian officials had discussed the Georgia issue on Wednesday with U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow and visiting U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton. themoscowtimes.com