Russia is building a sophisticated radar and electronic surveillance station on a new military base on the Russian-occupied Georgian territory of South Ossetia, a senior official in Georgia’s government told The Daily Telegraph.
Construction of the outpost near the town of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, has provoked Georgian warnings that Russia is actively preparing to repeat the August 2008 war.
As the source noted, the radar station and communications interception in the base in Tskhinvali represent a new threat to the security of Georgia. The equipment that Russia is bringing to South Ossetia would give it the capacity to track air movements, as well as to intercept mobile and other communications across the Caucuses and as far south as Iran.
There are already more than 4,000 Russian invaders in South Ossetia, the British paper reminds. Abkhazia, another Russian-occupied Georgian territory on the Black Sea, is believed to host further 2,000 Russian troops.
Eka Tkeshelashvili, the head of Georgia’s National Security Council, said Russia was not paying the price of international condemnation for occupying Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia is institutionalizing its presence in Georgia by building bases in both the occupied territories, Tkeshelashvili said.
Relations between the Tskhinvali and Georgia have remained completely frozen since the war two years ago, The Daily Telegraph tells the British readers. The border between Georgia and South Ossetia is traced near the town of Gori, better known as the birthplace of Josef Stalin. The majority of the 28,000 ethnic Georgians driven out of South Ossetia during the fighting have been rehoused in rows of tiny square bungalows built outside Gori.
Russia in recent years has significantly strengthened its position in the former Soviet Union, The Daily Telegraph notes. After the war with Georgia, Moscow has also achieved success in strengthening its positions in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. After Viktor Yanukovych’s rise to power relations with Ukraine radically improved. Some important agreements have been concluded, including an agreement to extend the term of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
As for Kyrgyzstan, after a coup in early April, the media have repeatedly written about the “handwork of Moscow”, which took an active part in the overthrow of the “pro-American” president Kurmanbek Bakiyev. The new government is trying to pursue a policy of friendliness towards Russia, and even “dancing to Moscow’s tune”, some foreign observers noted.
In connection with the talk about Russian involvement in the coup in Kyrgyzstan, the press began to express an assumption that the Kremlin may now be preparing a similar operation against President Mikheil Saakashvili. The Georgian authorities are encouraged Georgian opposition candidates to hold mass demonstrations that would lead to the overthrow of Saakashvili, The Daily Telegraph said.
As the source of the newspaper in the government of Georgia noted, Russia has been conducting subversive activities by funding the opposition and using its influence on the excluded territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Opposition leaders, in turn, refer to the fact that such actions were inspired by destructive policies pursued by Saakashvili.
Mikheil Saakashvili has already expressed fears that Russia gets an unrestricted freedom of action in the former Soviet Union, toppling one after another the democratic governments in neighboring countries.
Kazbegi news 