Interesting perspective on Georgia by UK's Independent

A victory for Russia's secret war as Georgian leader calls election

By Anne Penketh

Russia has scored a tactical victory in its long-term strategic battle with Western-leaning Georgia after a clumsy and brutal crackdown on the opposition by the leader of the "rose revolution" in the former Soviet republic, President Mikheil Saakashvili.

President Saakashvili, facing his biggest crisis since sweeping to power in a peaceful revolution four years ago, yielded yesterday to an opposition demand by calling a presidential election on 5 January, instead of next autumn, after his government was universally condemned for heavy-handed police tactics against protesters that left 250 people injured.

Television images showed opposition demonstrators being chased, kicked and beaten by riot police after the government moved to end five days of peaceful protests by up to 50,000 people.

But it remains to be seen whether Mr Saakashvili's announcement will be sufficient to defuse the crisis and save his presidency. Troops patrolled the capital, Tbilisi, yesterday after the President, a US-trained lawyer who has been accused of becoming increasingly autocratic, ordered a two-week state of emergency on Wednesday night and sent armed troops to shut down the two main opposition television stations. Staff had guns held to their heads. Under the emergency, only state-run outlets may broadcast news and schools have been closed until next week. Rallies have been banned.

Mr Saakashvili said he regretted the use of force, but justified the emergency measures by accusing Russia of mounting a coup behind the scenes. "Russian special services have stepped up their activities in Georgia," he said in a televised address several hours after riot police using truncheons, rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas dispersed protesters calling for his resignation.

"A country which has a lot of money and expertise has engaged a machine of lies and a mechanism of provocations," he said, before announcing the expulsion of three Russian diplomats. Russia retaliated swiftly yesterday by expelling three Georgian diplomats from Moscow.

Georgian state television broadcast on Wednesday evening what it said was a taped conversation between opposition leaders and Russian embassy officials, in an apparent attempt to back up the official accusation that the opposition was being manipulated by Moscow. Georgia's relations with Moscow have long been tense because of the republic's decision to seek membership of Nato and the European Union. The Kremlin has shown signs of paranoia as countries which it had traditionally seen as its backyard – ranging from Ukraine to the Baltic states – have joined Western strategic organisations or announced the intention of doing so.

Mr Saakashvili's tactics drew a strong condemnation yesterday from Nato, which will consider Georgian membership at a meeting in Bucharest next April. "The imposition of emergency rule, and the closure of media outlets in Georgia, a partner with which the alliance has an intensified dialogue, are of particular concern and not in line with Euro-Atlantic values," the Nato secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said in a statement.

The EU presidency urged all parties to "exercise the necessary restraint and refrain from using language and actions that could further deepen the political crisis".

Moscow said the violent crackdown had "evidently shown what democracy Georgia-style is" and appealed to the United Nations and the Council of Europe to pressure Georgia to stop using violence. Russia denied it had anything to do with the unrest in Tbilisi and accused Mr Saakashvili of trying to distract attention from domestic problems.

While the international reaction against the Georgian measures will suit the Kremlin, Russian direct involvement in the latest events remained speculative last night. Although Russia has a history of covert – but blatant – interference in Georgia, diplomats said there was as yet no proof that this was the case in the Tbilisi unrest.

At a meeting yesterday with Georgia's Foreign Minister, EU ambassadors were given details of the taped conversation between two Russian diplomats and opposition leaders. "That's not proof," said a diplomat present at the meeting. "That is something that diplomats do all the time." The envoy added: "We've not seen anything else."

Other diplomats said that Mr Saakashvili may have other confidential material that he may share in order to prove Russian involvement. However, the mass protests organised by the opposition, a disparate alliance of 10 parties grouping pro-Western Georgians with die-hard Soviet nostalgics, appeared to be a genuine popular movement, with the opposition capitalising on widespread discontent with rising prices and economic hardship.

Speaking in Brussels, the deputy defence minister, Batu Kutelia, told Reuters that his government had "clear evidence collected by our special services of direct financial aid and directives from Moscow. This evidence has been collected and will be distributed to the wider international community. We have evidence that directives have been made to proceed with the riots and to proceed with the overthrow of the government. I have names and particularly visible evidence of specific transfers of money and commands."

The opposition alliance had been holding demonstrations outside parliament since 2 November demanding early elections and an amendment to the electoral code to secure a greater number of opposition seats in parliament. Negotiations with government representatives were in their early stages when Mr Saakashvili ordered the crackdown, tarnishing his democratic credentials. "He over-reacted just when negotiations were getting started. He panicked," said one Western observer in Tbilisi. "It's a great shame."

The US and European governments have been largely sympathetic to the Georgian government, which has set out on a road of democratic reform and a market economy, despite a trade embargo imposed by Russia that backs regional separatist movements inside the republic as part of what is seen as attempts to destabilise the Saakashvili government. But the President's tough reaction to suppress the demonstrations were a chilling reminder for Georgians of Soviet-style tactics, recalling in particular the Soviet army's violent suppression of a peaceful opposition protest in April 1989, using toxic gas.

Original article posted here.