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Caucasus
Putin softens Moscow stance on Georgia
2002-03-01
  • President Vladimir Putin abruptly softened Moscow's stance towards the planned dispatch of U.S. military experts to Georgia, saying it spelled ''no tragedy'' for Russia's interests. Putin's comment, made as he stood alongside Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and other leaders of the Commonwealth of Independence States, ran counter to remarks made by his own foreign minister, Igor Ivanov. Ivanov, speaking earlier this week, said the planned dispatch of U.S. forces to the former Soviet Transcaucasian republic to help train Georgian troops to combat terrorism would only aggravate the security situation in the region.

    Russia, which has thousands of troops stationed in Georgia from Soviet times, has frequently offered to help Georgia with anti-terrorist operations in its lawless Pankisi Gorge. But Georgia, which since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 has accused the old imperial power of undermining its sovereignty and backing secessionist movements in the country, has consistently declined Russian offers of help.
    Putin, being smarter than Ivanov, can see the benefit that applies to Russia without getting bogged down in the national pride thing. The Georgians are - or at least feel - more vulnerable to Russian designs than they are to the Chechen gunnies.
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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