Chief Russian Peacekeeper Speaks of Provocations
In an interview with the Russian daily Kommersant published on February 8 Commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces stationed in the South Ossetian conflict zone Maj. Gen. Marat Kulakhmetov said that the Georgian Parliament’s resolution is not enough to force a withdrawal of the Russian peacekeepers from the conflict zone.
“The peacekeepers will continue their performance in the conflict zone, since the Parliament’s decision is not a guideline for the peacekeepers’ activities. First, we obey the Joint Control Commission and fulfill its decisions. Secondly, the decision over the deployment of the peacekeeping contingent was made by the Georgian and Russian Presidents in 1992 and the issue of their withdrawal can be solved only at Presidential level,” Kulakhmetov said.
When asked to comment on a recent statement by senior Georgian parliamentarian Givi Targamadze, who stated that Georgia will “force the Russian peacekeepers to leave” if they refuse, Kulakhmetov said that the Russian peacekeepers are authorized to use force in cases of necessity.
“If they [the Georgian side] plan to deploy the Defense Ministry’s units here, they will become cannon-fodder. Moreover, it will be an absolutely illegal operation by them and legal for us, because we will be defending ourselves,” he said.
He said that anti-Russian peacekeeping rhetoric is part of Georgia’s “anti-Russian policy.”
“They [the Georgian side] constantly provoke. And they will provoke in order to make me use arms… so that they can say ‘how bad these peacekeepers are’… [force will be used] if there is a threat to the lives of our servicemen… I tell my soldiers everyday ‘we are peacekeepers, we should preserve peace here instead of shooting,’” Kulakhmetov said.
“The biggest problem here is the presence of a large number of arms among the population. Disarmament [of the local population] will not be on the agenda while there is such a fragile situation, until the local population has a sense of stability… Demilitarization would have been launched immediately if the situation were stable… Disarmament is part of our mandate; but political will is needed, a guarantee from both sides of non-resumption of hostilities,” Kulakhmetov stated.
