Tag Archives: security

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)

Georgia’s parliament approves security chief

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Georgia’s parliament approved the appointment of Vakhtang Gomelauri, the current minister of interior, as head of the new State Security Service.

Its a controversial move as the State Security Service, which will take over most of Georgia’s intelligence gathering duties, was created to break up the power of the interior ministry.

Before becoming the interior minister, Mr Gomelauri was the head of the bodyguard team protecting Georgia’s most powerful man Bidzina Ivanishvili who set up the ruling Georgian Dream coalition.

And Georgia’s opposition have already accused the government of turning the position into a political football with Mr Gomelauria’s appointment.

“Gomelauri’s appointment shows that setting up the State Security Service to depoliticise security related matters is an absolute farce,” said Chiora Taktakishvili, an MP for the United National Movement during the vote in parliament.

As head of the new State Security Service, Mr Gomelauri will be in charge of defending Georgia’s borders, fighting terrorism, and preventing corruption.

Lincoln Mitchell, a political scientist, told the Bulletin it was, always unlikely someone without a close relationship with Mr Ivanishvili would have been appointed to the position. He also said, though, that he thought the creation of the agency was a step in the right direction.

“The Georgian Dream government has made Georgia more free than the previous regime, but has not moved as quickly as it should have to dismantle the tools that their predecessors used to limit freedoms,” he said.

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(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.

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

Kyrgyz forces foil attacks

JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz National Security Committee said it had prevented two attacks planned by the extremist group IS. Kyrgyz special forces said it killed six men during two gunfights in Bishkek. Allegedly, their targets were a square in Bishkek and the nearby Kant airbase, leased to Russia’s military.

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(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.

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

Tajikistan and India flirt with base deal

DUSHANBE, JULY 12/13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Indian PM Narendra Modi’s grand tour of Central Asia ended with a visit to Tajikistan, once again sparking the decade long rumour that India would lease the Ayni airbase near Dushanbe.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website reported that Mr Modi and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon visited the Ayni military base 15km outside Dushanbe as well as a 50-bed military field hospital India helped set up last year, ramping up speculation an agreement was about to be signed.

Instead, the two leaders signed far less eye-catching deals on culture and education.

India has been looking to lease an airbase in Central Asia for years.

It helped renovate the air base at Ayni in 2003 but appears to have been blocked from renting the base, possibly by Russia or China, Tajikistan’s close allies.

Earlier on the trip in Russia, Mr Modi had signed a deal for India to join the China and Russia led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) military/economic group focused on Central Asia.

India wants to start competing with China for influence over Central Asia and also for access to its various energy and metal deposits.

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

Georgia accuses S. Ossetia for grabbing land and pipeline

JULY 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Georgia accused Russia of grabbing a significant slice of its territory around the breakaway region of South Ossetia, including part of an oil pipeline owned by BP.

Signposts appeared overnight near an important motorway which crosses Georgia declaring the area to be under the control of South Ossetian forces. Armed men also started to patrol the area.

“(The) placing of these banners can be assessed as a provocation and completely unjustified move,” Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili was quoted by Georgian media as saying.

The EU, a consistent supporter of Georgia, agreed with Mr Garibashvili and released a statement on July 16 calling for the South Ossetian banners to be withdrawn.

Georgia and Russia fought a brief war in 2008 over South Ossetia which had declared de facto independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. After the 2008 war, Russia and a handful of other states recognised this independence.

Tension around the border zone, rugged hilly countryside dotted with farms and woods, has ebbed and flowed since then. This apparent land grab is one of the most serious, though.

It also highlights the risk of Georgia being an increasingly important part of the transit route for goods travelling between Asia and Europe.

Mr Garibashvili said that a 1.6km section of BP-operated Baku-Supsa oil pipeline now fell under rebel control.

“The pipeline is of strategic importance not only for us, but also for several other countries,” he said.

The 850km-long pipeline pumps 100,000 barrels of oil a day from fields in the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea where it is then shipped on to consumers in Europe.

Media quoted a BP spokesperson as saying that oil supplies would continue unaffected.

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

Georgia’s military starts exercises with NATO

JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s military started a two-week military exercise with NATO countries, including the US, at an airbase near Tbilisi. Much to the annoyance of Russia, Georgia is intent on joining NATO.

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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)

Tajik court sentences IS recruiter

JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Khatlon province, south Tajikistan, sentenced Khusein Odinamakhmadov, 30, to 35 years in prison for recruiting Tajik men in Moscow to travel to Syria to join the extremist IS group, media reported. Tajikistan is worried about IS recruitment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)

Russia’s military orders readiness in Armenian units

JULY 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s military ordered a readiness check of its units stations in Armenia, the AFP news agency reported. The military garrison stationed in Armenia is one of Russia’s largest overseas deployments.

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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)