GEORGIA WARNED yesterday of the possibility of a new war with Russia, one year after they fought over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, and as Moscow put its troops in the area on alert.
President Mikheil Saakashvili delivered his warning amid increasing tension along the de facto border between Georgia and South Ossetia, a tiny province guarded by Russian forces, whose declaration of independence has been recognised only by Moscow and Nicaragua.
Georgia has traded accusations in recent days with South Ossetia and Russia over alleged gun and mortar attacks on villages in the disputed border area, despite calls from European Union monitors for calm ahead of events starting on Friday to mark a year since the five-day war began.
“There is a risk. The Russians are exerting constant pressure,” Mr Saakashvili told French radio when asked about the possibility of renewed conflict.
“The latest [Russian military] manoeuvres are worrying. They refuse to respond to calls from European observers and unfortunately the media in Moscow are announcing a situation of imminent conflict.”
Georgian media are also focusing on South Ossetia, and reported yesterday that a teenager had been badly injured in an explosion near the region, in an area that they claimed had come under fire from separatist forces just hours earlier.
Gilles Janvier, the French police general who is deputy head of the EU monitoring mission, confirmed details of the explosion but said his staff had no evidence to support the allegations of gun and rocket attacks that currently fly daily between Tbilisi, South Ossetia and Moscow.
The EU has almost 350 monitors patrolling Georgian territory near South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another separatist region that Moscow recognised as an independent state last year. About 3,700 Russian troops are stationed in each province, and Russia’s FSB security service controls its boundaries with Georgia proper.
Contrary to an international agreement reached after the war, Russia will not let EU monitors enter either region and has forced other foreign observers to leave both areas.
“The situation is very worrying and Georgian provocations ahead of the anniversary of last year’s war are not stopping,” Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said yesterday.
“In connection with this, the battle-readiness of Russian troops and border guards stationed in South Ossetia has been heightened,” Mr Nesterenko said.