Tag Archives: international relations

Georgia accuses Russia of provocative war games

JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Around 1,500 Russian soldiers and dozens of pieces of artillery and missile systems started a major military exercise across the North Caucasus and the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, Georgia’s government said.

The Georgian government described the war games, which came around a week after South Ossetian forces extended a de facto border into Georgia, as a major act of provocation by Russia that could destabilise the region.

“This provocative act of the Russian P Federation represents an infringement of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Georgia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

It said the Georgian military would respond if provoked.

Russia hasn’t commented but the South Ossetian land-grab, that included taking control of a 1.6km section of a pipeline operated by BP which pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea, and the alleged military exercises have created the worse stand-off between Georgia and Russia since they fought a war in 2008.

Earlier in July, Russia said that NATO exercises in Georgia, which included a contingent of US soldiers, would have “explosive consequences”.

Georgia said that the Russian 2-week long military exercise began on July 15 across the North Caucasus and South Ossetia.

Georgia is pushing to join NATO, especially since Russia annexed Crimea last year and, allegedly, sent its forces into eastern Ukraine to help rebel forces fight a civil war against the Ukrainian military.

Europe and the United States have been supportive of Georgia’s Western orientation, but also stand-offish on allowing Georgia to join NATO.

Donald Tusk, the European Council President, was in Georgia for a pre-planned visit. He detoured to the area where South Ossetia had extended its control.

He praised the Georgian government for its restraint.

“The Georgian government met it firmly, but calmly, he said. Our goal is not to yield to these provocations and not to give anyone any pretext for escalation,” Mr Tusk said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Azerbaijani president holds talks with Tusk

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Donald Tusk, head of the European Council, completed his tour of the South Caucasus in Baku where he held talks with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. Mr Tusk’s visit comes at a time of increasingly strained relations between Azerbaijan and the West.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Armenia receives $300m loan

JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Almaty-based Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) will loan $300m to Armenia to weather tough economic conditions, media reported quoting Russia’s deputy economy minister Sergei Storchak. The ADB was set up by Russia and Kazakhstan. It supports members of the Eurasian Economic Union.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Azerbaijani oil exports to Russia re-start

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR, the Azerbaijani state- owned oil and gas company, resumed oil exports to Russia after a break of several weeks, Rovnag Abdullayev, the SOCAR chairman, was quoted by media as saying. No reason was given on why exports were resumed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Kyrgyzstan downgrades relations with the US

JULY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – BISHKEK – Kyrgyzstan downgraded bilateral relations with the US because of an award the State Department gave to an imprisoned ethnic Uzbek human rights defender last week, media reported.

Relations between the US and Kyrgyzstan have been worsening since the US military withdrew from an air base outside Bishkek last year. Since then, Kyrgyzstan has drifted towards Russia, joining its Eurasian Economic Union and adopting laws on foreign-funded NGOs and homosexuals which the US has said infringes civil liberties.

The award was given by the US State Department to Azimzhan Askarov. He was imprisoned in the south of Kyrgyzstan in 2010 after ethnic fighting killed nearly 400 people in the city of Osh. His supporters said that the charges, inciting violence, had been fabricated.

After Askarov’s son travelled to Washington to pick up the award, Kyrgyz PM Temir Sariyev signed a decree denouncing relations, which will come into effect on Aug. 20. The move will mean tax breaks awarded to US companies will be cancelled.

On the streets of Bishkek, reaction was mixed. Some people welcomed the tough stance by Mr Sariyev, others were cautious.

“In a couple of years, we will become a colony of Russia,” said a 30-year-old resident of Bishkek. “It is indeed bad that we are losing such assistance because Kyrgyzstan is a poor country.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Chinese workers increase in Kazakhstan

JULY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The number of Chinese migrants working in Kazakhstan doubled this year, according to the Kazakh ministry of labour. More than 12,000 Chinese labourers work in Kazakhstan, a third of the total foreign workforce. The increase shows how important Kazakhstan has become for China.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Turkmen minister visits Afghanistan

JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s foreign minister Rashid Meredov will travel to Afghanistan for talks with his Uzbek counterpart, media reported. Turkmenistan has become increasingly worried about the build up of Taliban forces on its borders. It also has an interest in stability in Afghanistan because of the proposed TAPI pipeline that will pump gas to Pakistan and India.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Georgia’s parliament speaker travels to Brussels

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliamentary speaker Davit Usupashvili travelled to NATO HQ in Brussels to urge for its membership of the Western military alliance to be sped up. “I told our partners very clearly, unequivocally that Georgia is ready for more,” he told Georgian media.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Uzbek president grows taller

JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A photo released by Uzbek officials of President Islam Karimov’s trip to Russia earlier this month for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) appears to have been doctored to shrink Chinese president Xi Jinping, a tall man, to the same height as Mr Karimov and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Opposition groups have previously accused official Uzbek media of doctoring images of Mr Karimov, 77, to make him look younger and fitter.

The Uzbek government has not commented.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Uzbek president warms to Putin

JULY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Ufa, Russia, Uzbek leader Islam Karimov spoke unusually warmly about relations with Russia.

Mr Karimov veers from near- hostility towards Russia to extreme warmth.

Russian television showed Russian President Vladimir Putin greeting Mr Karimov.

“You haven’t been here on a state visit for a long time,” he said.

Mr Karimov shook his hand and replied: “Whatever disputes we may have, nobody can make Russia and Uzbekistan quarrel as we have common interests.”

Mr Karimov’s last state visit to Russia was in April 2013. Most Central Asia and South Caucasus leaders, other than those from Georgia and Turkmenistan, are semi-regular visitors to Moscow.

The Uzbek head of state’s manoeuvres are understandable.

Uzbekistan may be improving its relations with the West, especially with regards to allowing NATO countries to ship their military kit out of Afghanistan, but Russia is still the regional superpower and Mr Karimov needs its help economically as well as to bolster security along its porous southern border where he says the Taliban are massing.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)