Russia orders Georgia evacuation

BBC ^ | 09-28-2006 | BBC

[sergey1973]

Russia has ordered a partial withdrawal of officials and their families in Georgia in a worsening row over the arrest of Russian officers there.

The Russian ambassador would also leave Tbilisi, said the foreign ministry.

It follows Wednesday's arrests of five Russian military personnel accused by Tbilisi of spying. Moscow is demanding their immediate release.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili denounced the Russian reaction to the arrests as "hysteria".

The already tense relations between the two countries have deteriorated over the past week, correspondents say.

[sergey1973]

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[lizol]

And where they are going to evacuate Georgia to? :-)))

[The Blitherer]

Georgia is awesome. They don't take any crap from the Russians.

[processing please hold]

Wow!

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on Thursday files would be released showing that the detained Russian officers had been "personally carrying out intelligence activities".

Things are certainly heating up quickly now.

[jhp]

just what we need, another balkans conflict

[Tailgunner Joe]

Russia needs to fulfill its treaty obligations and evacuate its occupation forces from all Georgian territories.

[sergey1973]

-:))))

[processing please hold]

I agree. It's beginning to look more and more like it.

[DXwertos]

You mean Caucasus-conflict!

By the way: there will be a conflict anyway, since Russia wants to annex a few Georgian regions. The Georigan president is bound by law to defend all Georgian regions by all means, or he will be impeached!

[Centurion2000]

Georgia is awesome. They don't take any crap from the Russians.

And they are about to get the living crap kicked out of them.

[jhp]

my bad, you are correct, Caucasus - not Balkans

[GarySpFc]

Russia promised to pull out in 2008, and will abide by their promise. That said, Georgia needs to stop protecting Chechens who have been using the Panski Gorge as training and staging areas for attacking Russia for several years.

See:
Islamic Human Rights Commission - The Plight of Chechen Refugees in Georgia

Georgia to ask NATO membership this month
Panski Gorge
Russian-Georgian relations have long been strained over the presence of Chechen rebels in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge and Georgia's refusal to let Russian troops flush the rebels out. Georgia launched its own security operation in August to sweep the gorge for suspected militants.

[sergey1973]

I think it's a shame that countries that should be natural allies--Christian Orthodox close to a dangerous Islamic Neighborhood--became enemies. Putin political myopia is mostly to blame for this. I think that this spy row is really about putting pressure on Russia to stop supporting Abkhazia and S. Ossetia separatist enclaves. I am still hopeful for civilized resolution of this prolonged conflict that should have been solved long long time ago if the political will had been there.

[Tatze]

Its a good thing I moved out of Atlanta a month ago then.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Is Georgia occupying Russian territory? Maybe if Russian invaders went home and stopped supporting separatists in Georgia then Georgians might begin to have an ounce of sympathy for Russia's own separatist problems. Russia even supported the Chechen Basayev's Abkhazian jihad against Christian Georgia in the early 90's, ethnically cleansing Abkhazia of hundreds of thousands of Georgians.

[dfwgator]

They don't take any crap from the Russians.

Yep, Stalin sure didn't take any crap from Russians, he just had them killed.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Putin had every chance to reverse Yeltsin's suicidal policies and wash his hands of Yelstin's support for Basayev's jihad against Georgia, but instead he continues the hypocritical aggression of the man who appointed him.

[GarySpFc]

Russia even supported the Chechen Basayev's Abkhazian jihad against Christian Georgia in the early 90's, ethnically cleansing Abkhazia of hundreds of thousands of Georgians.

Taht's ironic, because Basayev was the one who was using the Panski Gorge for a training and staging base to attack Russia. Georgia promised to do something about it, but to date hasn't.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

Ruslan will give you the other view on this problem.