Monday, August 20, 2007, #158 (1425)

US call for international monitoring of Roki Tunnel is 'absurd', says Moscow

By Nino Mumladze

US calls for international monitoring of the Roki Tunnel, which connects breakaway South Ossetia with Russia, were slammed by authorities on either end of the border passage.

"We treat this [idea] negatively, because, above all, the absolutely absurd idea of imposing international control over the Roki Tunnel came to us from the US Embassy in Georgia," said Russian deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin.

Karasin went on to criticize the US proposal, which Washington has made before, as "insufficiently thought-out and unconnected to reality," in an August 18 interview with the Russian TV channel Vesti.

The US Embassy in Georgia issued a statement on August 17 in response to an international investigation into the August 6 missile incident. The statement went on to address broader issues, however, urging the international community to "support confidence-building measures in South Ossetia to reduce military tension, including international monitoring of the Roki Tunnel and increased OSCE military observers throughout all of South Ossetia."

The statement voiced unequivocal support for Georgia's territorial integrity, calling for peaceful conflict resolution "based on an autonomous South Ossetia within a unified Georgia."

Karasin rejected the US statement as an encroachment on matters best handled by the Joint Control Commission (JCC), and suggested the embassy's position may not be in line with that of the US State Department.

"There exists an internationally acknowledged regulation format. Changing anything in the [Georgian-Ossetian] conflict zone because of some country's decision is a pointless task. It's impossible without Russian and South Ossetian consent," the deputy minister said.

The de facto government in secessionist Tskhinvali echoed Karasin's objections.

"We understand that the main goal of the US is to establish their presence at the southern frontiers of Russia. Today the US, working through Georgia, wants to collapse the JCC format and take the situation beyond a legal framework," said South Ossetian chief negotiator Boris Chochiev, warning that US "interference" could escalate tensions in the conflict zone.

The JCC, established after a bloody war beginning in 1991, is meant to be a format for conflict issues discussion between the four co-chairs of Russia, North Ossetia, South Ossetia and Georgia. While Moscow strongly supports the format, Tbilisi says the arrangement is weighted against them, and it's been more than a year since all four parties showed up to a session.

The US insistence on international monitoring of the Roki Tunnel border crossing, as well as upping the numbers of OSCE military observers throughout South Ossetia, is in line with what Tbilisi has long asked for. OSCE observers have found themselves with a shaky role in the conflict zone, alternative unwilling to commit to or not allowed a broader presence in the area.

The 3660-meter Roki Tunnel is the lifeline between Russia and breakaway South Ossetia. Georgia says that section of the border is a security threat, and claims it is used to traffic weapons and drugs, along with Russian military supplies to South Ossetian secessionist authorities.

Despite strong US and EU support for Georgia's demand to internationalize control of the Roki Tunnel-a long-standing precondition for Georgian acquiescence to Russian WTO accession-Russia has managed to keep the area under its supervision.

South Ossetian de facto authorities make little secret of how badly they depend on the tunnel.

"[The US and Georgia] want to block the Roki Tunnel to chuck our republic from Russia. We could live without water, but without Russian support we won't last long," said a candid Irina Gagloeva, de facto South Ossetian press and information minister, speaking with the Russian newspaper Kommersant on August 18.

"A Russian concession on Roki Tunnel would mean that it yields the one and only way of controlling the conflict zone. Right now, Russia is not inclined to yield this leverage. It wants to show the West its strength, plus there are the upcoming presidential elections," Gia Nodia, National Democratic Institute Country Director, explained.

But despite years without budging on the issue, Nodia told the Messenger, there's still a possibility of Russian concessions. Nodia drew parallels with the Russian military bases in Akhalkalaki and Batumi, which are finally being withdrawn years after they were supposed to be.

"But when this breaking point comes for the Roki Tunnel is difficult to predict," says Nodia.


© The Messenger. All rights reserved. Please read our disclaimer before using any of the published materials.