2006 Georgian–Russian espionage controversy


The 2006 Georgian–Russian espionage controversy began when the Government of Georgia arrested four Russian officers on charges of espionage, on September 27, 2006. The Western and Georgian media sources report that relations between the two post-Soviet nations have significantly deteriorated after Georgia and NATO agreed to hold talks on closer relations.

Background

Russian-Georgian relations have largely been reported as tense after the November 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia brought the pro-Western reformist leader Mikheil Saakashvili to power.
The 2006 gas pipeline explosions and the Russian ban of Georgian wines and mineral waters were interpreted by many as the means of the Government of Russia's pressure on the Georgian leadership for the country's close ties with NATO and the United States.
The recent disruption of the Status quo ante in the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia led to a further downturn in the already tensed Russian-Georgian relations.
In July 2006, the Georgian police and security forces took control of the Kodori Valley, hitherto controlled by the local Georgian militias led by the defiant commander Emzar Kvitsiani. Georgian officials claimed that the Russian security services were behind the 2006 Kodori crisis, while Russian and Abkhaz authorities accused Georgia of violation of the previous ceasefire agreements by deploying an armed force in the Valley. In September 2006, the area was officially renamed Upper Abkhazia by the Georgian government and declared to be the "temporary administrative center" of Abkhazia until the conflict is resolved.
Continuous anti-Russian statements by the Georgian government, such as the September 2006 speech by President Saakashvili in Poland, were interpreted by some Russian media sources as depicting Russia as the "barbarous tribe of Huns".

Timeline

On April 16, 2009 the case was brought before the European Court of Human Rights. The hearing was for the admissibility of the State vs. State case, a rare occurrence in this court with a ruling still pending.

Reactions

On September 29, Sergey Ivanov, Russia's Defense Minister and Vice Premier, denounced Georgia as a "bandit" state, and accused the NATO members of arming Georgia in support to "military solution" to the country's secessionist conflicts. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, urged the government to exert economic and political pressure on Georgia, and consider military intervention.
On September 30, the BBC reported Foreign Minister of Georgia Gela Bezhuashvili as saying that Georgia "expected Russia to honour the pullout agreement" and as accusing the Russian government of "trying to scare" Georgians.
President Mikheil Saakashvili described the Russian government's reaction to the arrests as "hysteria."
President Putin said, on October 1, Georgia's arrest of four Russian army officers for spying was "an act of state terrorism with hostage-taking", a statement that was downplayed by Saakashvili as "an overreaction caused by nervousness that they have created by themselves."
Meanwhile, various international organizations are trying to defuse the diplomatic conflict between the two sides. On September 30, the European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana spoke by telephone with Mikheil Saakashvili, urging him to find a rapid solution and offering assistance. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to which both Georgia and Russia belong, appealed, on October 1, for both sides to open a dialogue and seek a peaceful solution to the dispute. The OSCE Chairman-in-Office Karel De Gucht said he was ready to travel to the region if needed and assist the conflicting sides to reduce the tensions.
On October 16, the Russian newspaper Versiya published an interview with the Georgian Defense Minister, Irakli Okruashvili where the minister stated that Russia "would lose if the quarrel between the two countries escalates into a shooting war". On the same day Yury Baluyevsky, the Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, responded that Russia does not plan a war with Georgia and warned about the "consequences of the provocation by the brash politician". The next day the Georgian Ministry of Defense denied that Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili was interviewed by the Russian newspaper and called the information "another provocation coinciding with the visit of NATO officials to Moscow." Russian newspaper asserted that the interview it published was genuine and the audio recording of the conversation between the reporter Ruslan Gorevoy and Okruashvili is available.
On September 17, Estonia's parliament passed a declaration in support of "strengthening democracy in Georgia" and condemning "the endeavours by the Russian Federation to suppress Georgia's intentions by using economic sanctions and threats of force."

Deportations

The deportation of Georgian immigrants from Russia amid the ongoing diplomatic crisis also aroused much controversy. According to Russian authorities, more than half of the Georgians in the country are working illegally. Following the Russian crackdown on Georgian-owned alleged criminal businesses and the tightening of visa criteria for Georgians, on October 6, 2006, about 136 Georgians accused of "immigration offences" were flown back to Georgia on board a Russian cargo plane. Several deportees, however, showed valid passports and Russian entry visas, as reported by Reuters. In Georgia, the process of deportation and crackdown on allegedly illegal Georgian businesses in Moscow was described as “ethnic cleansing.”
Vice-president of the Federal Migration Service of Russia, Mikhail Tyurkin, said that immigrants "head home, to their mothers and children" and termed the mission "humanitarian."
The Russian authorities are also claimed to have begun targeting ethnic Georgian celebrities living in Moscow, including the famed Georgian-Russian fiction novelist Grigory Chkhartishvili better known by his penname Boris Akunin. Akunin commented on the Russian radio station Echo of Moscow that his publisher had been questioned by tax authorities over the writer's finances. "I didn't think I would live to see ethnic cleansing in Russia," he said. On October 6, the influential Russian human rights organization, Memorial condemned both sides of the dispute, accusing the government of Russia of "racial discrimination," and Georgia of "irresponsible policies."
Mikhail Kasyanov, leader of Russia's Peoples Democratic Union and former Prime Minister of Russia, made a following statement:
On October 6, the Moscow-based Echo of Moscow radio station called for expressing a protest against the authorities’ policy towards ethnic Georgian immigrants through pinning a badge saying "I am Georgian":
On October 7, a minor unsanctioned rally organized by opposition youth activists in support of the Georgians was dispersed and more than a dozen of its participants detained by Moscow police.

Background information