The White House Talks on the Phone with Russia and Georgia

While approaching the one year anniversary in August of the war in the Caucasus region and increasing tensions on the border between Georgia and South Ossetia, Washington is demonstrating increasing anxiety in connection with the possibility of a renewal of military conflict. President Barack Obama said that on Tuesday while talking on the phone with his Russian colleague Dmitry Medvedev. Meanwhile, the USA’s vice president, Joe Biden, called his Georgian colleague, President Mikhail Saakashvili, and asked him to show restraint. Having thought of “reconsidering” their relations with the Russian Federation, Washington is not interested in new tensions in the region. However, it is not going to stop supporting Georgia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called his American colleague Barack Obama on the evening of August 4 to congratulate him on his birthday. During the conversation, Barack Obama asked a very unpleasant question for both sides about the situation in the Caucasus region. Barack Obama did not forget that last year, while he was still a candidate for the U.S. presidency and spending his birthday with the family in Hawaii to get some rest from a wearing pre-election campaign, the war in Georgia was unleashed. He did not interrupt his vacation, but met with journalists, while wearing a light jacket, and cautiously called for peace from both parties. This allowed his Republican competitors to accuse him of being weak, and significantly lowered his rating. This time, already president of the U.S., Barack Obama hurried to express his concerns about a dangerous increase in tensions at the Georgian-South Ossetian border. “President Barack Obama has declared the importance of using such mechanisms of crisis-management as a joint mechanism of prevention and reaction to incidents, [and] he’s also declared the necessity of the presence of international observers,” was said in the message promulgated yesterday by the White House.

Immediately after that conversation, Vice President Joe Biden called Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and said that “having expressed the USA’s support of Georgian democracy,” he has “noticed that all parties should refrain from destabilizing actions.” According to the words of the secretary of the security council, Eka Tkeshelashvili, Mr. Biden has also noted that “a military solution to the problem of restoration [in] the unity of the country doesn’t exist.”

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Alexander Vershbow spoke on the situation around Georgia on the very same day in front of the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations. He denounced Russia’s allegations of the USA’s remilitarization of Georgia. “No part of the USA’s one billion dollar aid rendered to Georgia after the conflict was intended for the Georgian Ministry of Defense,” announced Mr. Vershbow. Though, not excluding that in the future the USA may provide Tbilisi with “defensive arms,” he also noted that already allocated by the USA’s Congress are hundreds of millions of dollars that have gone exclusively for reconstruction projects in Georgia: the moving of displaced people, reconstruction of destroyed houses, infrastructure and police forces. “Besides, the Pentagon helps Georgia with preparation and equipment of divisions that will fight in Afghanistan,” said Mr. Vershbow.

Yesterday, the RF’s deputy of the Ministry of International Affairs, Grigory Karasin, entered into correspondence polemics with Alexander Vershbow. “This is not fully true. According to our data, arms deliveries continue from the USA, which create anxiety and force us [to] undertake corresponding measures,” declared the Russian diplomat while giving a press conference to RIA News. The day before, making a statement on the same subject, Grigory Karasin warned that in accordance with the decree of the president of the RF, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia can limit military and economic cooperation with countries providing arms to Georgia.

Another painful question for both parties, connected to the situation in the region, is the desire of Americans to participate in the monitoring mission of the EU in Georgia. It is not known if Barack Obama discussed this idea in his conversation with Dmitry Medvedev when they spoke about possible prevention mechanisms of a new conflict and the necessity of international observers. It is well known that Russia is categorically against joining the USA’s military personnel in the EU’s mission, though Georgia actively supports this idea. According to the permanent representative of Russia to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, Mikhail Saakashvili “needs Americans as hostages.” “He wants them to be killed there,” said Mr. Rogozin in his interview with Kommersant.

“Kommersant” #142(4197) from 08/06/2009