tagged w/ Abkhazia
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Teenagers in Abkhazia undergo military training as tensions with Georgia rise.
Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia 15 years ago in a conflict that cost thousands of lives and created hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Abkhazia's Ministry of Defence has organised military training for the region's young people amid fears that tensions with Georgia could turn into a conflict. Teenagers in Abkhazia undergo military training as tensions with Georgia rise.... more
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"Moscow and Tbilisi need to cease military preparations in and around Abkhazia and cool their rhetoric lest their increasingly dangerous confrontation bring war to the Caucasus.
Georgia and Russia: Clashing over Abkhazia,* the International Crisis Group’s new report, released as EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana visits the region for the first time, examines the dispute’s causes and gives recommendations to all parties involved.
“Russia should withdraw the troops and equipment it has deployed over the past two months”, says Magdalena Frichova, Crisis Group’s Caucasus Project Director. “At the same time, Georgia should adopt a new approach to the Abkhaz, encouraging their links to the outside world to lessen dependence on Russia and emphasising genuine confidence building”.
Concerned that prospective Georgian membership would bring NATO to its most sensitive border, Moscow deployed reinforcements to Abkhazia in April and May, continuing a pattern of escalation. This includes an upgrading of ties with the breakaway territory, statements that force will be used to protect Russian citizens there if hostilities resume and the downing of Georgian drones. Georgia argues Russia undermines its territorial integrity by supporting Sukhumi’s independence bid, economically, financially and militarily. Many in the West agree that Moscow has become a party to the conflict.
The West must use its influence to press for peaceful resolution. Persuading Russia to withdraw its new troops and to accept changes to the negotiations format that emphasise direct Georgian-Abkhaz dialogue and give the EU a role on a par with itself and the UN, would improve the chances for diplomacy.
Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili offered a new peace plan for Abkhazia in March, with extensive autonomy, a jointly-controlled economic zone and gradual merger of law enforcement and customs agencies. If it is to have an opportunity to succeed, Tbilisi must drop consideration of war scenarios and take steps to persuade the Abkhaz it is serious about engaging with them and acknowledging their grievances, not simply making a show for the benefit of its Western partners.
“Neither Georgia nor Russia probably wants war, but it could all too easily come by miscalculation, and if it does, it could set the Caucasus - North and South - ablaze”, says Sabine Freizer, Crisis Group’s Europe Program Director. “All sides need to recognise the risks in their policies, return to the negotiations table and support confidence building”.""Moscow and Tbilisi need to cease military preparations in and around Abkhazia... more
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Venti di guerra e ancor più di parole soffiano ai confini tra la Georgia e l'Abkhazia, la maggiore delle due regioni separatiste caucasiche (l'altra è il Sud-Ossetia) su cui Tbilisi rivendica spasmodicamente la propria sovranità, che ha perduto da più di tre lustri. La recente misura georgiana di trasferire 1500 soldati nella parte superiore della gola di Khodori – che si incunea tra la Georgia e l'Abkhazia - è stata definita da Mosca come il tentativo di creare una testa di ponte da cui aggredire militarmente l'Abkhazia.
English version: http://current.com/items/88936187_georgia_says_very_close_to_war_with_russia
Venti di guerra e ancor più di parole soffiano ai confini tra la Georgia e... more
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An irritated Bush administration accused Russia on Wednesday of trying to find excuses to keep thousands of troops in Georgia in violation of a cease-fire Russia signed with the former Soviet republic last month.
Using unusually blunt language, the State Department said it was well past time for Russia to withdraw most of its soldiers from Georgia's separatist areas of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. A spokesman demanded that Russia do so now.An irritated Bush administration accused Russia on Wednesday of trying to find excuses... more
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