The Hindu : Russia issues ultimatum to Georgia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 13, 2002

International

International

Russia issues ultimatum to Georgia

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW SEPT. 12. Russia has issued an ultimatum to the former Soviet republic of Georgia to stop cross-border attacks on Russian territory or face the prospect of a Russian military action to wipe out Chechen rebels holed up in Georgia.

``If the Georgian leadership fails to stop bandit incursions and attacks on Russia's neighbouring areas, we reserve the right to act in line with Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, which gives every U.N. member nation the inalienable right to defend itself on its own or collectively,'' the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, said.

Russia has long accused Georgia of taking no action against Chechen rebel bases in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge near the Russian border.

Georgia has also rejected repeated Russian proposals to mount a joint anti-terrorist operation in the region.

In televised remarks broadcast on Wednesday evening Mr. Putin said he had ``absolutely verified information'' that some of the militants entrenched in Georgia "were involved in planning the terrorist attacks in the U. S. a year ago and also in the apartment house bombings in Russia (in 1999).''

Moscow made it clear that its patience had run out.

The Russian President on Wednesday instructed top defence and security officials to draw up plans of ``delivering strikes against: terrorist bases (in Georgia) in the course of a pursuit operation.''

He gave the Georgian leadership a month to accept the ultimatum, saying that he hopes to work out "joint anti-terrorist measures'' with the Georgian President, Eduard Shevardnadze, during their meeting at a summit of ex-Soviet states at the beginning of October.

Russian analysts saw Mr. Putin's ultimatum to Georgia issued on the anniversary of the September 11 events amounts as the offer of a deal to the U. S. President, George W. Bush: you go ahead with an antiterrorist attack in Iraq and let us do the same in Georgia.

``There are no arguments against this logic,'' the Kommersant Daily said. ``George Bush has asserted time and again that terrorists must be hunted down wherever they are.''

AP reports:

Meanwhile, in Tbilisi amid heightened tension, the Georgian President, Eduard Shevardnadze, and the nation's Parliament on Thursday gloomily mulled over a response to the Kremlin's ultimatum to wipe out Chechen rebels on their territory or face unilateral Russian military action.

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