President: Georgia Will Use "All Avaliable Means" to Oust Russian Peacekeeps from Abkhazia

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s first meeting with new Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev in early June now promises to be a fiery affair. Armed with the findings of a UN report that holds Russia responsible for shooting down a Georgian drone over the breakaway region of Abkahzia, Saakashvili has announced that Tbilisi will use "all means and all ways" to try to push Russian peacekeepers out of the conflict zone.

The two men are scheduled to parlay at a June 6-7 meeting of CIS leaders in St. Petersburg, Russia. Speaking during a televised session of Georgia’s National Security Council on May 27, Saakashvili stated that Russia could no longer be trusted to act as an impartial peace-broker in Abkhazia. Moscow, he insisted, "pretends to play at peacekeeping" in Abkhazia and such misbehavior "annuls this peacekeeping role."

"It is absolutely clear that Georgia cannot remain in such a situation when we all, together with our international partners, are sitting and waiting for [a new] provocation," he said. Saakashvili did not specify precisely how Tbilisi would try to overhaul Abkhazia’s peacekeeping format. [More]

Tbilisi seeks to replace Russian peacekeepers after Georgian plane downed

Georgia is demanding an official apology and compensation from Moscow for the downing of an unmanned spy plane over Abkhazia last month, after a UN investigation concluded Russia was to blame for the attack.

Tbilisi is using the UN investigation’s unusually unequivocal findings to push its case that Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia must be replaced. President Mikheil Saakashvili said yesterday that Russia had undermined its role in Georgia’s separatist regions with the incident.

“It is entirely clear…especially after this latest official conclusion, that Russia on its own effectively canceled the existing [peacekeeping] format. It claims to be peacekeeping, while at the same time executing armed attacks against the state in which it claims to be doing this peacekeeping,” Saakashvili said in a televised session of the country’s National Security Council.

Saakashvili said his government would carefully consult its allies to engineer a safe revision of the peacekeeping arrangement. [More]

UN backs Georgia over drone claim

A Russian jet did shoot down an unmanned Georgian drone over the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia last month, UN monitors say. The jet flew back into Russian airspace after the attack, the UN report says.

Russia has denied the charges - even though Georgia's defence ministry released video appearing to show a Russian MiG-29 shooting down the drone.

Tensions over Abkhazia have soared, with Georgia and Russia accusing each other of a military build-up. Moscow accuses Georgia of preparing to invade its breakaway region, where many residents hold Russian passports. Georgia says Russia is preparing to annex the region. [More]

UN chief recommends extension of UN mission in Georgia

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended on Monday to extend the mandate of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) for six months.

In his report on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, unveiled on Monday, Ban noted that despite relative calm in recent months, the deadly clash that occurred on Sept. 20 is "the most serious incident involving the Georgian and Abkhaz sides in many years." [More]

Georgia and Russia Clash at UN

Georgia's president told world leaders Wednesday that Russia continues to interfere in its domestic politics and engage in "reckless and dangerous" behavior, the latest in a series of conflicts between the two countries.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly, President Mikhail Saakashvili accused Russia of trying to skew reports of an incident last week in the breakaway region of Abkhazia in which Georgian forces killed two Russian military officials.

Saakashvili, who has vowed to bring the region back under Georgian control and accuses Russians of backing the separatists, said claims by a senior Russian official that the men killed were innocent were "unconstructive, unsubstantiated and wholly untrue." [More]

Emergency UN meeting: Georgia

Georgia has urged the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on "an act of aggression" by Russia.

Georgia says it has "incontrovertible evidence" that Russian jets launched a missile near the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Georgia's Charge d'Affaires Irakli Chikovani also urged the United Nations, Russia, the European Union and other international organisations to investigate and verify "this unprovoked use of force against Georgia." [More]

UN Secretary-General Insists that Granting Independence to Kosovo Will Not Create Precedent

The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes that granting Kosovo independence cannot be a precedent for separatist movements in other countries, including Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Ki-moon stated at a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York on 16 July, "I'd like to make it clear that this issue of Kosovo is a sui generis (unique) issue" that will not create any precedence for other situations such as for Georgia's Abkhazia republic or Azerbaijan's disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

At the end of last week the United States and its allies sent the UN Security Council the next 4th draft resolution on the future status of Kosovo which caused serious objections by Russia. [More]