After Obama and Medvedev, Qaddafi, and Ahmadinejad, President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili spoke at the UN General Assembly, which will last until 30 September.
Virtually all commentators had suggested that the Georgian president will be complaining about Russia, but he has unexpectedly recalled Chechnya.
Defiantly replying to a statement from the same platform by the present formal leader of the Kremlin Medvedev, Mikhail Saakashvili, said:
"Some in this room claimed, he had been "forced to do" what he did in Georgia a year ago. And their predecessors "were forced and had to" invade Poland in 1939, Finland in 1940, Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968, Afghanistan in 1979, they "had to" wipe off the face of earth the 400 thousand city of Grozny, to destroy and exterminate the proud Chechen people and kill tens of thousands of innocent people - women and children”.
We must point out the fact that Chechnya has not been remembered at the UN for a long time, so Saakashvili's statement on this subject in itself generated interest.
Some Russian commentators have suggested that Saakashvili wanted to remind about Russia’s “Chechen war”, which killed far more civilians than during the five-day war over South Ossetia, on the eve of release of report on the war for Tskhinvali.
And that is while in Russia's war against Chechnya, Saakashvili was the de facto ally of Russia.
Before addressing the UN, Mikhail Saakashvili, recalled this himself in an interview, saying that early in his tenure, he assisted the leadership of Russia in the fight against “Chechen separatism”, but now believes his decisions were "profoundly wrong".
Such a turn of "Chechen theme" is very curious and is a novelty even for the Georgian political leadership.
Indeed, immediately after coming to power, the new president of Georgia has done much to help Russia in its war against Chechnya.
In particular, immediately after his first meeting with Putin in early 2004, some Chechen refugees and political activists were arrested in Georgia and extradited to Russia, despite vehement protests from the opposition and human rights organizations.
Also several Chechens freed by a court of Tbilisi, "for lack of evidence” were kidnapped. They were kidnapped almost the same day and given to Russia.
Sources in the entourage of President Saakashvili then made excuses that he could not do otherwise, arguing that "during the first meeting in Moscow, Putin hinted that the improvement of Russo-Georgian relations is possible only if the new Georgian authorities will take real, rather than declarative steps towards the joint fight against Chechen terrorism and separatism”.
Former President Aslan Maskhadov's representative in Georgia Khizri Aldamov told reporters a few years ago: "The attitude to me by the Georgian authorities changed dramatically after the “Rose Revolution" and the election of Mikhail Saakashvili. I have the impression that the Georgian authorities just want us, the Chechens, to be squeezed out of the country and get rid of us, like Putin did".
Prior to this interview there was an attempt to poison Khizri Aldamov in Tbilisi, and he narrowly escaped death: driving wheel of his car was sprayed with some substance, when Aldamov, together with relatives and went for shopping.
He was saved by the fact that on his return from the shop his relative sat behind the wheel instead of him, and died later in agony.
During the presidency of Mikhail Saakashvili the stimulus such as the "problem of Pankisi Gorge" disappeared from the Russo-Georgian relations.
Putin on the background of the September 11 attacks in New York was able to negotiate with the Americans that they exerted Georgia on the Pankisi Gorge. This "problem" was reminded to Saakashvili when he met American diplomats.
Already in the first months of his presidency, Mikhail Saakashvili ordered to block all roads leading into the Pankisi Gorge, and then put the troops in the region. Chechens chose not to aggravate relations with Tbilisi not to provoke hostilities in the region and the invasion of Russia.
In addition, since 2004, the Georgian authorities facilitated the implementation of Moscow’s plan for repatriation of Chechen refugees to the occupied homeland. Including the method of cutting financial and humanitarian assistance to those who moved to Georgia.
As a result of the 3000 refugees who had taken refuge in the Pankisi Gorge in 2000, by 2007 there remained only a few dozen people.
Mikhail Saakashvili also banned all contacts with representatives of the CRI.
Since 2004, the Georgian authorities have tightened passport control against Chechens who were trying to settle in Georgia and elsewhere - outside the Pankisi Gorge. In particular, legal services refused to register the purchase of housing.
Such cases were not few, and they fit into the policy of official Tbilisi, trying to "squeeze out" the Chechens back to Chechnya, or a third country.
Georgian experts believe that Saakashvili's statement reflected a major change of his position on the North Caucasus:
"Of course, Georgia will not give Moscow a reason to blame itself for a supply of arms to the North Caucasus or for passage of militants - said analyst Mamuka Kalandadze to Slonru publication regarding Saakashvili's statement to the UN. - Support for religious extremism in any form is also ruled out. But if it would be a "secular" nationalism and separatism, seeking to secede from Russia, then Georgia's position would be at least benevolently neutral towards the separatists".
Commentators have seen in Saakashvili's speech at the UN a request for revision of Georgian politics in the North Caucasus. All the opponents of Moscow may now be considered allies of Georgia.
But how far is Saakashvili really ready to go will be shown by his actions, not words. Moreover, the so-called "secular nationalism" with a claim for "separatism" in the North Caucasus, deprived of resources and people willing to die for the idea, is largely dead.
Fighting with Russia, are those, who in Moscow and Tbilisi are falsely called “religious extremists”.
If Georgia really changes the approach in its policy toward the North Caucasus, then Georgia will have to reckon with the factor of the Caucasus Emirate. Without this factor, there will be no real policy, and it will be empty profanation and chatter.
Georgia has a chance to really become an important player in the region and realistically hope for satisfaction of their interests and help, especially if Russia tries to accuse Georgia of "encouraging separatism" in the North Caucasus, then other international and regional “Caucasian players” will have an obvious chance to accuse Russia itself in double standards in relation to their own and other people's separatism.
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
