Tskhinvali, Moscow Warn Tbilisi May Use Force

South Ossetian and Russian officials have warned that Tbilisi may use force against the breakaway regions in an attempt to distract attention from internal problems.

?The Georgian authorities are trying to solve their internal problems at the expense of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,? Eduard Kokoity, the secessionist South Ossetian leader, said in comments posted on the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee?s website on October 25.

Kokoity said he held a telephone conversation with the Abkhaz leader, Sergey Bagapsh, and shared with him information about ?provocations, which are planned by the Georgian side for early November.?

Russia?s ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, said in an interview with the Financial Times on October 22 that the Georgian government was pursuing ?rather adventurous policies that do not exclude attempts to solve the problems they have with Abkhazia and South Ossetia by force.?

?With the domestic political situation getting quite tense, the temptation to distract attention by deflecting it to these conflict areas might become too great,? he said.

Meanwhile, Georgia?s state minister for conflict resolution issues, Davit Bakradze, reiterated on October 24 that Tbilisi remained committed to the peaceful resolution of the conflicts.

Bakradze left for Sokhumi on October 25, where he will have talks with the foreign minister of breakaway Abkhazia, Sergey Shamba.

The visit will mark an end to a long pause in bilateral contacts between senior Georgian and Abkhaz officials.

Talks between Sokhumi and Tbilisi were suspended more than a year ago. Sokhumi had linked the resumption of dialogue to preconditions, such as the withdrawal of Georgian forces and the Tbilisi-backed Abkhaz government-in-exile from the Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge in the breakaway region.

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