South Ossetia, a region which is legally a part of Georgia, is almost fully under the control of separatist groups that want to cede from Georgia and join the Russian region of North Ossetia. The nights here regularly see intermittent gun and mortar fire between the official Georgian forces and the armed separatist groups.
South Ossetians have a grudge that the Georgians discriminated against them since the Soviet times. It was Stalin who divided Ossetia into two in 1922 and made Noth Ossetia part of Russia and South Ossetia a division in Georgia. The division was then protested by the Ossetians who are mostly Orthodox Christians.
The tiny South Ossetia’s attempt to break free of Georgia in 1991-’92, immediately after the break-up of the Soviet Union, was suppressed by Georgian troops. Now, Georgia’s bid for NATO membership has infuriated Russia and there is talk of armed conflict over South Ossetia. The border between the Russian North Ossetia and the Georgian South Ossetia is porous and there is unchecked movement of people from both the sides.
The tensions between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia have been rising and the likelihood of a full-scale war breaking out between the two countries is not ruled out.
Russia has warned Georgia of “large-scale military action” and has further said that it would “not remain indifferent” to any danger to the South Ossetians who are holding Russian passports.
There have been repeated accusations and counter-accusations by Russia and Georgia about attacks on each other’s territory. A Russian plane bombed Georgian villages close to South Ossetia last summer and Georgia warned of the danger of full-scale war. Last month, when the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, four Russian fighter planes flew over South Ossetia, making public Russia’s claim over the region.
Temur Iakobashvili, Georgia’s minister for re-integrating its separatist regions, argues,
Russia will undermine Georgia until it is formally placed on the path towards NATO membership, and more US and EU involvement in security missions and negotiations in Georgia’s breakaway provinces is needed.
The separatist government in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, is overtly pro-Russian and anti-Georgian in its stand. The region’s Deputy Prime Minister, Boris Chochiev, says,
All we see is that Georgia is preparing for another war. But we wouldn’t be alone. It would be a war of the Caucasian peoples against Georgia, and Russia would be obliged to protect its citizens.
And the message is clear that Russia would not let go its grip on the Caucasian region.
The simmering conflicts in the various regions in the Caucasus and the Russian interference here, both direct and indirect, keeps the ethnic and economic divides politically charged, while no immediate solution is in sight.
Source: The Independent
