Russia and terrorist attacks in Georgia

On December 7, Georgia’s ministry of Internal affairs officially stated that Russian special services were behind terrorist attacks in Georgia which took place recently. It is likely that a new scandal between Tbilisi and Moscow will start. Georgian authorities asked Moscow to participate in the investigation but Moscow has labeled the Georgian allegations as provocative. The Georgian side hopes that perhaps western experts will be involved in the investigation and this will force Russia to take a more serious attitude towards the issue. The detained persons have already confessed and named Russian officer Evgeny Borisov as the person who was giving orders and masterminding the operations. Before the August war he served in the contingent of so called Russian peacekeepers whereas recently he has been promoted to head of the Russian occupational forces in Abkhazia. Russian analysts expressed different opinions, some predict serious scandal and very substantial reaction from the Kremlin towards Georgian moves. Many of them ask the question of what would Russia be trying to achieve by organizing terrorist attacks in Georgia? The professionalism of the persons directly involved in the explosions is very poor. For instance, instead of fulfilling an order and organizing an explosion near the US embassy the explosion took place several hundred meters from a building whereas the terrorists were persuading Borisov that the explosion took place near the US embassy. The device was planted near Chaladidi railway and did not explode, whereas Borisov received information that it exploded but the Georgian media were supposedly covering it up. Georgian analysts think that through these subversive actions, Russia pursues different targets. First was to undermine Georgia’s image and establish a picture of instability there, which would definitely damage Georgia’s claims to develop tourism in the country. Of course often terrorist attacks would result in a panic-stricken population and would strain the political situation in the country. As it is known, after the explosion near the Labour party HQ, the party leadership accused the ruling administration of organizing the terrorist attack.

Some analysts suggest that Georgian special services produce very professional and efficient investigation works identifying and detaining terrorists. It has not been ruled out that some more facts will be revealed and more agents will be uncovered.