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Interfax

Grigory Yavlinsky "To the Summit of the CIS Heads: Russia and Georgia"

October 7, 2002

Moscow, 24 April: The leader of the Russian liberal party Yabloko, Grigoriy Yavlinsky, According to information agencies, there are grounds for thinking that during his meeting with Edward Shevardnadze, President Putin has found the right solutions to Russian-Georgian relations and transferred the issue from the area of state conflict to the area of cooperation between the law-enforcement agencies of both countries.

Russia has incomparable power compared to that of its neighbours and assumes unparalleled responsibility potential for all developments in the region.

Russian military action against Georgia is inadmissible. The uncertain results of such a military campaign would be incomparable with the losses Russia would sustain here, both domestically and internationally from spreading the war in Chechnya to a neighbouring independent state. We have lived as one state for two hundred years and for 70 years under the Soviets. The human, cultural and moral consequences of such a step could be disastrous for our nations.

The situation in the Pankissi Gorge in Georgia is not the key issue for finishing the war in Chechnya. According to our data, there are far more terrorists and militants in Chechnya and neighbouring regions than in Pankissi. Militants, terrorists and "soldiers of fortune", weapons and financial flows do not enter Chechnya from Georgia alone and not as significantly from Georgia. It should not be forgotten that Chechnya gave birth to the Pankissi factor, and not vice-versa.

However, some of the military have proposed such a decision to the President. They tried to conceal from the President their inability to resolve the tasks they faced in Chechnya, and used a strike against Georgia as a distraction for public opinion.

Is there a problem with Georgia in this sense? Most definitely. Certain forces in Georgia are providing political support to active opponents of constitutional institutions in Russia. The Chechen rebels in Georgia should be disarmed, and terrorists neutralized and sentenced. This is the sense of the political cooperation between the Russian and Georgian leadership. Russia can and should exert pressure on Georgia and use law-enforcement agencies. However, we should on no account allow this issue to be transformed into a military conflict between the two states.

Furthermore, the short-sighted and irresponsible intervention of Russian structures in Abkhazia, Adjariya and South Ossetia has no prospect and is very dangerous. Responding to the incitement of their separatist desires by the Russia's political elite, Georgia believes that it is entitled to offer political shelter to Chechen terrorists. However, by relying on the support of thr international community, Georgia is erroneously trying to provide "symmetrical"responses and repeats Russia's mistakes.

I hope that the summit in Kishinau will put an end to the military hysteria aroused by the Russian political elite during the past few weeks.

See also:
Relationships between Russia and Georgia

Interfax, October 7, 2002

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