EU-diplomaat uit kritiek op door Rusland gesteunde opstandelingen in Georgië (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The head of the EU monitoring mission in Georgia has on the two-year-anniversary of the war criticised the Russian side's lack of co-operation and warned that threat of renewed conflict remains.
Hansjorg Haber, the German diplomat in charge of the 330-man-strong mission, noted in a written statement at the weekend that Russian-backed Abkhazia and South Ossetia's policy of keeping EU monitors out of their territories contributes to ongoing tension.
"The de facto authorities' denial of access to South Ossetia and Abkhazia has been hampering the mission's normalisation and stabilisation efforts," he said. "Inability to access areas under the control of Sukhumi and Tskhinvali [the regional capitals] prevents us from helping bring clarity and resolving incidents that take place on the ground."
Mr Haber praised a Georgian agreement to limit military deployment near the disputed borders, adding that "a Russian decision to reciprocate the move would help bring transparency ... and increase security for all."
With unquantified numbers of Russian armour still parked less than one hour's drive from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, in violation of the August 2008 truce and with some 30,000 ethnic Georgians still unable to return home to South Ossetia, the EU official warned against international complacency.
"We are not under the illusion that stabilisation equates to the resolution of the conflict. The Georgian people have had plenty of opportunities to learn these lessons between 1993 and 2008, when, in spite of agreements to stabilise the situation and the presence of international organisations to monitor this process, hostilities reignited."
The unarmed EU monitors, the only international presence in the post-war theatre following the withdrawal of the OSCE and the UN, are likely to stay in place beyond September 2011, the end of their current mandate, Mr Haber added.
In events that shocked Europe, fighting erupted on the night of 7 August 2008 when Georgian forces shelled Tskhinvali, prompting a five-day-long Russian incursion into Georgia and personal threats by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin i against the pro-Western Georgian leader, Mikhail Saakashvili.
An independent but EU-funded report by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini in 2009 condemned both sides, saying Georgia's attack on Tskhinvali was unjustified and that Russia's reaction was "illegal."
But attempts to control the war narrative continue unabated as both Russia and Georgia court better relations with the EU and US two years down the line.
The Russian side at the weekend repeated its claim that the Tagliavini report vindicates its actions.
"It is perceived differently: some think this way, others differently, but anyway there are objective facts and they were laid out by Russian, Abkhaz and South Ossetian sides. Then they were reflected in a report by Heidi Tagliavini and in other documents. That's why I think, that the truth is on our side," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told press while visiting a Russian garrison in Abkhazia on Sunday.
"The European Union has validated that the [Tskhinvali] attack violated international law ... They [the Georgians] maintain that our country is occupied by the Russian Federation. They are wrong and officials in Washington and Brussels know that," South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said in a statement emailed to Brussels and Washington-based journalists by the US-based PR firm Saylor Company on Saturday.
For his part, Mr Saakashvili kept a low profile at the weekend, speaking of the need to "liberate" Georgia in a TV address beamed over from Columbia while on a state trip.
But he used harsh words while addressing the Georgian army in a speech at home on 4 August, calling the Russian side "barbarians" and saying that still today "the enemy ... wants to overthrow the Georgian government" and restore its "imperial sphere of influence."
Mr Saakashvili's allies in the US also continue to take a hard line.
"Though disagreements remain over how the conflict began, there is no denying that two years ago this weekend, Russian troops crossed an internationally recognized border and invaded Georgia," US Republican senator John McCain said in a comment for the Washington Post, which urged the US to re-arm Mr Saakashvili.