Georgian-Russian crossing point reopened

The crossing point Verkhny/Upper Larsbetween Russia and Georgia, closed since July 2006, was reopened March 1. The decision was took at the end of the last year, following a request from Armenia and negotiated by Swiss diplomats. Verkhny Lars is the only crossing not going through the Russian-backed breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and maintains the only direct route from Russia to Armenia.

After the August 2008 war, the situation between Russia and Georgia remains tensed, and the bilateral relations frozen.

The War in Georgia - one year after

Tensions on Ossetia boundary.

FACTBOX: Georgia's rebel regions one year after war
Reuters

August 4

The Russian-backed rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were recognized by Moscow as independent states after a five-day war last August with Georgia.
A year on, only Nicaragua has followed suit. The rest of the world still considers the regions part of Georgia.
Following are brief profiles of the two rebel territories, which threw off Georgian rule in wars in the early 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
ABKHAZIA:
* About 8,000 square km (3,088 square miles), Abkhazia is a lush strip of land on the Black Sea about half the size of Wales. Once the playground of the Soviet elite, the territory has ambitions to become a top tourist destination for Russians, who already account for 90 percent of holidaymakers.
* Abkhazia threw off Georgian rule in a 1992-93 war after Georgia's independence from the Soviet Union stoked fears among the Abkhaz that their influence in their homeland would be further diminished. After sporadic fighting, Georgia sent in the army and paramilitaries to stamp out calls for secession, only to be pushed back to the Inguri river -- today's de facto border -- by Abkhaz militias backed by Russian forces.
* The population of Abkhazia is around 200,000 people. Georgia says 200,000 ethnic Georgians and Mingrelians fled during the 1992-93 war. Around 60,000 have returned, mainly to the eastern Gali region adjacent to Georgia proper.
* As fighting raged last year in South Ossetia, Abkhazia seized the opportunity to take back the last corner of its territory, pushing Georgian police out of the Kodori gorge. Russia now controls its borders, and plans to build military bases, including a naval base at Ochamchire.
* A United Nations mission of some 130 monitors had observed the fragile peace since the 1992-93 war, but was forced to leave in July after Russia vetoed an extension to its mandate. Russia objected to a reference in a Western draft U.N. resolution which reaffirmed Georgia's territorial integrity.
* According to the Abkhaz authorities, 90 percent of foreign investment is Russian. Pensions are paid by Russia and the rouble is the currency. Tourism is Abkhazia's best hope of sustainable development.

SOUTH OSSETIA:
* Just 50 km (30 miles) from the Georgian capital Tbilisi at its nearest point, South Ossetia covers 3,900 square km (1,505 square miles) on the southern slopes of the Caucasus mountains. It has a population of some 63,000.
* South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in a 1991-92 war following Georgia's independence from the Soviet Union. It maintains close ties with the Russian region of North Ossetia on its northern border, with whose people it shares a common ethnicity and Farsi-related language. Self-styled president and former wrestler Eduard Kokoity told Reuters he hopes to unite South Ossetia with Russia.
* In August last year, after months of escalating tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi, Georgia launched an assault on the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, prompting a massive counter-strike from Russia. As in Abkhazia, Russia now controls South Ossetia's de facto borders. Most people hold Russian passports and the rouble is the currency.
* A small team of monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had operated on the ground since the 1991-92 war, but was denied access after last year's war and has since been forced to close down after Russia rejected a Western proposal to extend its mandate.
* Tskhinvali was heavily shelled during last August's war, and reconstruction has been slow. Around 25,000 Georgians have been unable to return to their villages and thousands of Ossetians remain homeless.
* The economy is heavily dependent on Russian subsidies. Kokoity said Russia has allocated 8.5 billion roubles ($270 million) for this year, but local officials complain not all has made it to the region.
(Compiled by Moscow and Tbilisi bureaux)

Georgia separatists warn may block U.N. monitors

Christian Lowe and Conor Sweeney

Reuters

February 10

Georgia's separatist Abkhazia region said on Tuesday it will not allow United Nations ceasefire monitors to continue working in its territory unless the mission's name is changed to reflect separatists' desire for independence'

But, Western diplomats in Moscow said Russia and not Abkhazia would have the decisive say in whether the mandate for the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) is renewed. Abkhazia objects to the reference to Georgia.

Separatist foreign minister Sergei Shamba said the new mandate -- to replace one which expires on February 15 -- must change the mission's name to reflect the separatists' assertion that Abkhazia is an independent state.

"If it (the new mandate) does not correspond to our proposals we will not allow them in. We will not allow the U.N. mission in Georgia into Abkhazia," Shamba told Reuters in a telephone interview.

In New York, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters a group of key countries had drafted a resolution extending the mandate for four months. The Security Council was expected to pass it later this week, he said.

Western governments say the U.N. mission plays a central role in preventing new hostilities between separatist and Georgian forces, who are locked in a tense standoff after Abkhaz forces drove out Tbilisi's troops in fighting in the 1990s.

This week's dealings at U.N. headquarters in New York over the mandate are seen by many observers as a test of Russia's willingness to work with the international community after it angered many Western states with its war with Georgia last year.

Georgia said it wanted the mandate left unchanged and would not accept a mission that undermined its territorial integrity.

"In my opinion, Abkhazia is bluffing," Georgian Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister on Reintegration Temur Iakobashvili told Reuters.

Uncertain future

For years there has been consensus on the need for the U.N. observer mission but last year's war -- and Russia's subsequent recognition of Abkhazia and the second breakaway region of South Ossetia as independent -- have made its status more precarious.

Russia last year blocked the renewal of the mandate for an Organization for Security and Cooperation observer mission in South Ossetia, saying the mandate had to be changed to acknowledge the region's statehood.

The final deadline to agree on the OSCE mission's mandate falls on February 18. The OSCE said on Tuesday two of its monitors were briefly detained in South Ossetia.

But one Western diplomat in Moscow who is familiar with the talks said the U.N. mission was different.

"For Russia, it will be more difficult to boot out the U.N., when it also says the U.N. should be the core forum where international disputes should be handled," he said.

Russia and Nicaragua are the only states to have recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent.

See also:

OSCE - Concerns over the detaining of unarmed monitors

RFE/RL - A Day in the Life of Russia's Collective Unconscious