Transcaucasian railway row

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Georgia is currently preparing for the presidential elections on October 27th. The main rivals – Georgian Dream of Bidzina Ivanishvili and United National Movement of Mikhail Saakashvili – attentively follow competitors statements, especially those regarding relations with Russia and territorial integrity.

Any information leads to a decrease of tension. For example, the secretary of the Armenian Security Council, Artur Bagdasaryan, stated that Yerevan and Tbilisi had already agreed on the reconstruction of direct railway traffic from Russia through the territory of Abkhazia and Georgia to Armenia. “The Georgian side agreed to this, as well as the Russian and the Abkhazian sides. However, we should understand that there are conflicting parties. But there is a political will to open the railway and develop railway communication,” Bagdasaryan stated.

His Georgian colleague, the secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia and one of the closest supporters of President Saakashvili, Giga Bokeria, demanded that Ivanishvili’s team “deny or confirm Bagdasaryan’s statement.” And there were a lot of denials. The press secretary of Primer said that although the question regarding direct railway traffic had been discussed, “no decision was made on the issue.” Then, the special envoy of the Premier on settlement of relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze, stated that “the question of railway traffic wasn’t touched on” at his meeting with the deputy foreign minister of Russia, Grigory Karasin.

However, Ivanishvili’s opponents have discussed various conspiracy theories that the government “secretly intends to reject the fundamental connection between the reconstruction of traffic and the returning of Georgian refugees to Abkhazia” which the Georgian authorities have tried to achieve since Shevardnadze’s era.

Bagdasaryan’s statement was disapproved by the official Abkhaz presidential representative, Kristian Bzhania: “The problem of direct railway traffic through Abkhazia hasn’t been discussed at Russian-Abkhazian or any other meetings for a long time.”

However, it is well-known that this topic was discussed by Vladimir Putin and Serge Sargsyan at their recent meeting. As the result of the meeting, Armenian President stated that his country intended to join the Customs Union, while Putin promised to allocate a significant sum for reconstruction of the Armenian railroads. At the same time, the Armenian railroads can be effective and important, only if they are connected with Russia through Georgian and Abkhazia…

At the same time, the statement of joining the CU dissatisfied some forces in Yerevan, and some people even held protests, demanding initialing the free trade area agreement with the EU.

The Armenian SC secretary is a smart and well-informed person. He knows well that Tbilisi and Sukhumi haven’t agreed and probably won’t agree by themselves on the direct railway communication. So, Yerevan made a smart step – it will agree to join the CU, if Moscow convinces Georgia and Abkhazia to open railway communication which was stopped in 1992. So, the statement by Bagdasaryan is a message to Moscow, rather than to Tbilisi or Sukhumi.