Cossack soldiers arrive in South Ossetia
Georgian government detains supposed 'humanitarian aid' from Russia By Nino Kopaleishvili Messenger.ge Wednesday, July 14, 2004, #130 (0654)
Cossack military formations help a demonstration of their force inside territory of South Ossetia on Tuesday. The well-equipped fighters, who arrived to South Ossetia following a decision of the Cossack Council, showed their skills and demonstrated weapons in training in territory controlled by the de facto government.
A Cossack leader interviewed by Rustavi-2 stated that the fighters had arrived in South Ossetia to help their "brother Ossetians" and this was an official decision as 949 delegates of the Cossack Council voted for it.
"Here are our Cossack volunteers who want to take part in this," the Cossack ottoman told a Rustavi 2 journalist. "90 percent of the population of South Ossetia are citizens of the Russian Federation. That is why we are obliged to support our citizens. We represent the voice of Russia. If it is necessary, all Russians will come to help our brothers."
While the Cossacks demonstrated their force, Georgian law-enforcers detained cargo trucks escorted by Russian peacekeepers at the Ergneti checkpoint.
According to the representative of the President of Georgia in Shida Kartli Micheil Kareli, Russian peacekeepers, who claimed they were carrying flour to Ossetian and mixed villages in Big Liakhvi as a present from President Putin, could not provide any documents that it was humanitarian aid.
After 3-hour of negotiations between Georgian customs officers and Russian peacekeepers the Georgian side did not change its position.
"Sviatoslav Nabzdorov could not present any evidence that these goods are really humanitarian aid and if these goods are not cleared, we won't allow them to enter the territory of Georgia," Kareli told journalists.
Commander of the Russian Peacekeeping Forces Sviatoslav Nabzdorov, who personally escorted the cargo, insisted that it was humanitarian aid and there was an agreement with President Saakashvili. Nabzdorov also reminded journalists that on July 12 a Georgian delegation with an escort of Russian peacekeepers managed to distribute flour to the Big Liakhvi villages.
"Yesterday I said that I would bring a present from President Putin. Now we are carrying flour which the president of Georgia allowed us to do three days ago, but your governor probably misunderstood something," stated Nabzdorov before negotiations with the Georgian side.
According to Kareli, he did not have any information that President Saakashvili had allowed the cargo to pass.
Meanwhile, on June 12 Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and Defense and Chairman of the Parliamentary Security Committee Givi Targamadze stated that Moscow had dispatched a convoy of some 150 military vehicles transporting artillery, ammunition and 120 troops from North Ossetia to the breakaway Republic of South Ossetia during the night of 11-12 June.
President Mikheil Saakashvili denounced the deployment as an "unfriendly act" on Russia's part, while the Georgian Foreign Ministry lodged a protest with its Russian counterpart and appealed to the international community to condemn the Russian deployment on June 13.
On Monday the Russian Defense Ministry denied the allegations that troops and arms had been sent to South Ossetia. But according to the website Hellenic Resources Network, Interfax on July 12 quoted a spokesman for the North Caucasus Military District as explaining that a convoy carrying fuel, food, and spare parts was sent to South Ossetia as part of a routine rotation of Russian troops serving with the quadripartite peacekeeping force deployed in the conflict zone.
Murad Djioev, foreign minister of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia, similarly denied that Russia has sent troops to the region, Interfax reported. He dismissed the Georgian accusations as part of a Georgian propaganda campaign.
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail