Accusing Georgia

The recent attack on the Chechen parliament showed clearly that situation in the northern Caucasus is far from calm. In fact this event proved that neither central government nor Moscow’s puppet representative Kadirov is controlling the situation in the republic. The attack shattered Ramzan Kadirov’s authority in the autonomous republic, while also showing that central governance from Moscow cannot really control the situation and prevent such attacks. Of course both Moscow and Groznyy wanted someone to blame to direct the spotlight away from their shortcomings and this someone became Georgia. According to Kadirov, Georgia facilitated the terrorist attack.

Ramzan Kadirov believes that Georgia supports the terrorists, with the recent decision of the Georgian government to allow north Caucasian citizens to enter Georgia without a visa being clear proof. But if one analyses the situation deeply, the proliferation of terrorists in Georgia is more of a threat to Georgia itself than the Russian federation. Moreover terrorists hardly cross the border registering their identity at the checkpoint; they are more likely to cross over borders illegally over the mountains.

The new visa-free regime was heavily criticised by the opposition, in particular because Moscow could easily use the opportunity to send its agents to Georgia. As for terrorists entering Russia from Georgia this is an absurd allegation as Russia does not have an open border with Georgia and is able to carry out strict checks of any person entering Russia from Georgia, which incidentally is common practice on the Russian side of the Larsi checkpoint.

As for the Russian allegations that there are terrorist training camps in Georgia, if Moscow were to allow international monitoring missions to restore their activities in Georgia and monitor the situation around the Georgian-Russian borders, their fears would be allayed. But maybe this is what they are afraid of? One must remember that during the OSCE monitoring mission along the Russian – Georgian border, Russia’s allegations about Georgia’s involvement in training terrorists on its territory almost ceased.

The recent developments in the north Caucasus show that Russia’s central government cannot really control the situation there. Moscow’s pressure on the north Caucasus peoples goes unmentioned by similar pressure from nationalistic forces there. Although the Kremlin speculates about the development of tourism, small and medium businesses, attracting investors into the region seems to be very problematic, and so all possible options are being considered. One of Moscow’s recent arrogant ideas is to support the voluntary immigration of people from the north Caucasus to the Urals and Siberia, which of course stirs further antagonism in the region because many northern Caucasus remember the period when Stalin deported whole nations from the northern Caucasus to Siberia. While it is difficult to give a direct recipe on how to calm the area, one thing is certain – Moscow is clearly unable to control the situation, either from a nationalistic point of view or from the religious side.

In summary, we can say that the Kremlin’s unwise policy is backfiring against Russia itself and it is just the beginning.