Russia 090813 Basic Political Developments

Washington for constructive relations between Russia, Ukraine

http://en.rian.ru/world/20090813/155798905.html

WASHINGTON, August 13 (RIA Novosti) - Washington wants to see constructive relations between Ukraine and Russia, and supports Kiev's right to make its own choices, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of State said.

"It is important for Ukraine and Russia to have a constructive relationship," Philip Crowley said on Wednesday, after being asked to comment on the Russian president's recent "scathing attack" on his Ukrainian counterpart.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev blamed Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday for the worsening in relations between the two former Soviet republics, expressing his "deep concern at the current, without exaggeration, crisis in Russian-Ukrainian relations."

Relations between Moscow and Kiev have been marred in recent years following a number of gas disputes, Ukraine's desire to join NATO, and the Soviet-era famine in Ukraine.

Crowley also reiterated the U.S.'s support for Ukraine's right as a sovereign state to pursue its interests "in any way that it chooses."

"Going forward, Ukraine has a right to make its own choices, and we feel that it has a right to join NATO if it chooses," the U.S. official said.

Ukraine has been pursuing NATO membership since pro-Western Yushchenko was inaugurated in January 2005. However, regular opinion polls show that the majority of Ukrainians continue to oppose joining the alliance.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden also expressed Washington's support for Kiev's NATO plans during a visit to Ukraine in late July.

Reports: Two Die in Abkhaz Blasts

http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=21363

Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 13 Aug.'09 / 10:51

Two people were killed after an explosive device, placed in a garbage can in breakaway Abkhazia’s resort town of Gagra, went off on August 12, the Russian news agencies reported.

No one was injured in a separate explosion later on the same day in the breakaway region’s capital Sokhumi.

Explosion in Gagra occurred at about 4:50pm local time killing a 52-year-old woman and injuring at least four people; one of them, a 25-year-old man, died later in hospital, Russian news agencies Itar-Tass and Kavkazsky Uzel reported.

Vladimir Putin, who was visiting Sokhumi at the time of explosion in Gagra, said at a joint news conference with the Abkhaz leader, Sergey Bagapsh, that the blast was “echoes” of the last year’s war.

“We can still see those echoes even today and the incident in Gagra is a confirmation to that,” Putin said.

In a second incident an explosive device, placed close to the seashore, went off at about 8:20pm local time in Sokhumi. According to the Russian news agencies, by the time of second explosion, PM Putin had already departed from Sokhumi back to Sochi, Russia’s Black Sea resort less then 50 kilometers away from Abkhazia.

Bomb goes off near restaurant in Sukhum, no one hurt

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14228823&PageNum=0

SUKHUM, Abkhazia, August 13 (Itar-Tass) - An explosion roared through the seaside embankment in the Abkhazian capital on Wednesday evening.

Nugzar Samsonia, the acting head of the Abkhazian State Security Service, told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

The explosive device had been planted under a tree near the Elbrus restaurant. Members of a visiting Russian delegation and journalists who had covered Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s working visit to Abkhazia were reportedly inside the restaurant at the time of the blast. No one was hurt.

Samsonia confirmed that another bomb had gone off in the resort town of Gagra earlier on Wednesday. Two employees of the local cultural centre are believed to have died in the blast. Another three people were wounded.

Law enforcers investigate blasts in Gagra & Sukhum

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14228829&PageNum=0

SUKHUM, Abkhazia, August 13 (Itar-Tass) -- Police in Abkhazia have launched an investigation into a blast in the resort town of Gagra which claimed two lives. The explosion that occurred at 16:47 Moscow time on Wednesday has been classified as a terror strike. A 52-year old woman, Lyudmila Surina, was killed immediately while Dmitry Metreveli, 25, died of wounds later.

‘The explosive device was planted in a trash container near a building where a commercial firm had an office,’ Ramin Gablaya, Abkhazia’s first deputy interior minister, said.

As a result two people died and an entire family, consisting of a husband, a wife and a child, got shrapnel wounds. Four more people turned to hospital for help.

The Gagra administration has promised assistance to the families of the dead and to those who were wounded in the blast.

The investigative centre comprises Abkhazia’s first deputy interior minister Ramin Gablaya, Beslan Kvitsiniya, the first deputy chief prosecutor, and Astamur Ketsba, the administration head of the Gagra region.

An explosion also hit a seaside embankment in the Abkhazian capital on Wednesday evening, Nugzar Samsonia, the acting head of the Abkhazian State Security Service, told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

The explosive device had been planted under a tree near the Elbrus restaurant. Members of a visiting Russian delegation and journalists who had covered Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s working visit to Abkhazia were reportedly inside the restaurant at the time of the blast. No one was hurt.

Russian citizen accused of espionage in favour of Georgia tried in South Ossetia

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1883
12.08.2009
The Supreme Court of Georgia’s Russian-backed breakaway republic of South Ossetia has begun hearings of the first case on espionage in favour of Georgia, Russian news agencies are reporting today. The native of South Ossetia and the citizen of Russia Alexander Khachirov is accused that within four years according to orders of the Georgian secret services he had filmed transport and military objects in the republic. 
Radio Ekho Moskvy notes that the criminal case is being heard in closed regime in connection with classified character of information obtained by Khachirov. In case the accused is found guilty he will get from 12 till 20 years of imprisonment, radio adds.
Khachirov has been charged according to the Russian Federation Criminal Code articles on treason in the form of espionage and illegal circulation of weapons and explosives, daily Kommersant writes. Investigation also accuses him of preparations for explosion of an anti-tank mine near one of the Russian military units in Vladikavkaz. 
According to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation, Khachirov has admitted that he filmed the Russian vehicles and military objects under orders of the Georgian secret services. He has told at interrogations that he was recruited by the Georgian secret services in 2004.
A VAZ-2106 vehicle belonging to Khachirov was equipped with espionage equipment for carrying out of secret video shooting of an international automobile check point Nizhny Zamaragh, protection systems of Rok tunnel connecting North and South Ossetia, military objects of the Russian 58th army. In the territory of Georgia, officers of secret services received the videomaterials and supplied the agent with new equipment for videorecording. At the interrogation Khachirov admitted that he received about 100 dollars for each finished shooting of an object. According to investigators, the materials which have been filmed by Khachirov, could have been used by the Georgian authorities during the attack on South Ossetia in August a year ago.

CIS member states hold discussions in Russian Foreign Ministry concerning 64th session of UN General Assembly

http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=106172

13 Aug 2009 12:47

Baku. Viktoria Dementieva – APA. The representatives of CIS member states held discussions in Russian Foreign Ministry concerning the issues included into the agenda of the 64th session of the UN General Assembly, APA reports quoting the website of Russian Foreign Ministry. Representatives of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia and CIS Executive Committee attended the discussions. Azerbaijan and Ukraine attended the discussions in capacity of observers.

The representatives of CIS member states exchanged views on urgent issues on the agenda of the session. The participants underlined the necessity of adopting resolution on the 65th anniversary of the World War II.

Agreement was reached to continue contacts among the delegations of CIS member states during the 64th session of the UN General Assembly.

Pessimistic voice about CIS lingers on

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90780/91343/6727343.html

15:24, August 13, 2009

Ever since the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) more than two decades ago, Russia has constantly stepped up its integration process, whereas other CIS states have enhanced or beefed up vigilance against Russia's "group captain image", and some of these countries even oriented themselves toward a de-integration tendency.

In the wake of the "color revolution" in Georgia and Ukraine, these two nations and Moldova accelerated their pace "westward" and seeked to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In April 2005, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova announced their objective to advance the ongoing democratic processes and attain the goal of European integration. Russia, however, maintains that the organization is a political alliance in the area of the "former Soviet Russia" to oppose or counter itself and other CIS nations under an aegis of the United States and the European Union (EU).

In August 2005, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova launched "the Community of Democratic Choice". Then, President Saakashvili explicitly stated that"Georgia has become a very important country" in Europe. On the 26th of the same month, Turkmenistan announced the annulment of its full CIS status at the CIS Summit conference held at Kazan.

Upon the outbreak of Russia-Georgia conflict in August 2008, President Saakashvili soon announced Georgia's withdrawal from the CIS and urged other CIS states to follow suit. Ukraine, however, did not follow in Georgia's footsteps because of its complex political situation and difficult economic conditions, but Russia-Ukraine relations waver in an impasse, and a natural gas war erupted in early this year made the Ukraine-Russia ties even worse.

On the issue concerning Russia's Black Sea Fleet stationing in Crimea, Ukrainians have insisted on the pullout of the Russian fleet from Sevastopol by 2017, and refused to have more talks with Russians on the issue. Analysts nevertheless acknowledged that Ukraine has to make a choice between CIS and NATO on a long run.

Together with Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been regarded as the core CIS members, which heavily rely on Russia and consequently become active participants in varied CIS projects. For example, Belarus imports some 90 percent of its fuel from Russia, and the Belarus-Russia trade turnover made up over half of its total foreign trade volume.

With the swaying of core CIS member states recently, the pace for the CIS integration has turned increasingly harder and much more difficult. But CIS members have all along aspired to enhance their economic cooperation owing to a growing impact from the global financial crisis.

On May 22 this year, Astana hosted a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Governments. It features targets of the CIS Economic Development Strategy, which is a comprehensive document covering the period up to 2020 and a mutually agreed system of the CIS States'views on their economic growth and integration processes. In June, a breakthrough was effected or brought about on a commission of the custom union being set up between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. And the commission of the custom union is expected to begin its work as of July 2011.

Meanwhile, CIS member states also hope that Russia will assure to open up its labor market. According to the incomplete statistics so far available, there are now 3.6 million Ukrainians, 2 million Uzbekistanis, 1 million Tajikistanis and half a million Moldovans working in Russia along with a large number of Kirghizstanis, Azerbaijanis and Armenians.

The "territorial issue" is one of the major factors for CIS member states to stay on within the CIS, and Russia has been asked repeatedly to mediate between Azerbaijan and Armenia over their pending issue of Naika and on the status of the Transnistria strip along Moldova's Dniester River Left Bank.

Hence, the CIS will certainly not perish or wither away since it has provided a platform at least for conferences or consultations of CIS leaders, just as a top researcher at the Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan has claimed.

Out of their interest considerations, some analysts also acknowledge, the "glancing around" foreign policies pursued by some CIS member states could possibly continue in the months or years to come.

By People’s Daily Online and contributed by PD resident reporter in Kazakhstan Chen Zhixin