Transgressing conflicts in a neighborly way

Oleg Kusov exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

There is still not much dialogue between Moscow and Tbilisi: in Geneva and in Prague diplomats are slowly discussing "the establishment of economic and humanitarian ties between the two countries." Many Russians and Georgians might not know anything about these discussions, but at the same time they might in fact be engaged in building bridges between their peoples. This is happening, oddly enough, right at the core of the Russian-Georgian rift – between the residents of North Ossetia and Georgia. Perhaps these people are not thinking about peacekeeping efforts in their daily lives, and their activities, including business, vacations, purchase of cars and goods, healthcare, might seem prosaic at first... But in the end, the process of conflict settlement is gradually gaining momentum.

In the past two years, relations between ordinary people of Russia's North Ossetia and Georgia have boomed. In the summer a lot of Ossetians began to spend their vacations on the Georgian coast of the Black Sea in Batumi, Kobuleti and Ureki (the resort was famous for its healing magnetic sand in Soviet times). One can get from Vladikavkaz to the Georgian coast in 11 or 12 hours. But the prices  are much lower than in Sochi or in Crimea. There are fewer people and the food is tastier. In winter, it takes residents of Vladikavkaz about an hour to get to the ski resort Gudauri. Health clinics in Tbilisi are famous among Russian Ossetians. Georgian medicine has been considered very good in the Caucasus for a long time. Healthcare in Tbilisi is not cheaper than in Vladikavkaz, but results are more important than money. There are especially many customers from North Ossetia among Georgian plastic surgeons. "Since I myself was almost damaged in bad surgery in Vladikavkaz, I understand people who are looking for expert help in Tbilisi," a young resident of North Ossetia told me.

Car dealers in Georgia are always glad to see customers from the North Caucasus since cars from Europe and America have been flowing around already for about 10 years. The majority of these cars are in good condition. People can buy parts for foreign cars in Georgia for almost half the prices they cost in Russia. There are many joint ventures owned by citizens of these two neighboring countries which do not have any diplomatic relations.

"I know a taxi firm in Tbilisi which is owned jointly by a local Georgian and an Ossetian from Vladikavkaz," an employee of an NGO "Institute for Regional Development and Cooperation" in Tbilisi, Tamara Kavtaradze, told me. "The cooperation is successful. But this is not the only example. In the summer, many Ossetians come to the Georgian resorts because of the Greater Caucasus mountain range, not only to spend their vacation, but also to hire restaurants and cafes for the season. They bake pies and the famous Ossetian and Georgian khachapuri."

Tbilisi officials and businessmen have taken advantage of strengthening Ossetian-Georgian relations. Perhaps, under the pretext of peacekeeping in this case, they tried to conceal their financial calculations, and opened a casino in the border town of Stepantsminda (until 2007 it was known as Kazbegi). As prime minister, Vano Merabishvili excused this institution from the annual license fee which amounted to about 3 million dollars in the summer of 2012. There are 160 kilometers between Tbilisi to Stepantsminda along a winding road, and 40 kilometers from Vladikavkaz along the Balta and Daryali gorges. It is obvious who it is that regularly goes to the casino in the mountains, given that it is legal to play roulette in Russia only in four remote places.

It has also become very convenient for people living in the North Caucasian republics to get to Europe from Tbilisi Airport. There are no direct flights from the region to Europe and it takes time and is expensive to fly from Moscow.

The boom of business activity between Georgians and Russians living in the North Caucasus was made possible by the abolition of the need for visas for citizens of Russia in February 2012. Residents of the North Caucasus were allowed to enter Georgia without visas already in October 2010. But for a long time after that, the border crossing between the Russian checkpoint Lars and the Georgian checkpoint Dariali was not that busy. The first to take advantage of the elimination of visas were Muslim pilgrims, since their route to Mecca through the Georgian border took much less time. But in the last year and a half businessmen and vacationers have started to flow through the checkpoint. They themselves admitted that due to the worsening of diplomatic relations they were afraid to go to Georgia with Russian passports, and even ethnic Ossetians were cautious. Only very few people had the courage to travel. With time, their positive stories encouraged others to go.

A young businessman, Soslan, who worked at a Vladikavkaz company producing meat products, conceived an ambitious project a year ago to master the Georgian market. There was not much profit to be expected, but a small Vladikavkaz firm wanted to stand out. According to calculations of economists, 80% of Russian exports consist of raw materials, 15-16% of fertilizer, and only 4% are finished product. A small North Ossetian firm dares to increase this percentage with the help of its meat products, even though there were already enough sausages in Georgia, including imported ones.

"It took me five months all in all to arrange the cooperation," Soslan said. "I came to Tbilisi almost every week. I found partners, thoroughly studied the Georgian legislation; no one had ever imported meat from Russia to this country before. There were some unsuccessful attempts, after which colleagues from other firms joked that it was easier to bring drugs across the state border than meat products, since there were very rigid requirements. But eventually I succeeded. I brought the first batch, 11 tons of sausages and delicacies, in the cold season. It was very windy on the gorge. It was snowing. If I had a flat tyre, it would have taken me half a day to fix it. What would the local police and people think about a car with Russian numbers? There were many questions. But in the end, the result surpassed my expectations and our sausages and delicacies won the competition with European competitors on the Georgian market. The company's products, as I was told, have appeared on shelves in Turkey and Iran thanks to local distributors," Soslan said.

Soslan and his firm did not make a lot of money: "Like hundreds of Vladikavkaz residents, I used my trips to Tbilisi for shopping as well. On the outskirts of the city there is a huge market called Lilo. It was possible to get good winter clothes for 10 thousand rubles in total: a coat, pants, a hat, a pair of blouses and a bag of socks. It is three times more expensive in Vladikavkaz, even though it is the same Turkish, Chinese stuff. In Georgia I buy tyres for the car, I save almost 50%. I brought my friends a whole trunk full of clementines from Batumi."

- But are there some obstacles along the way?

- If you are referring to the border and the Georgian police, in general they have a normal attitude to us. The previous government pushed the Georgian police not to be harsh on traffic offenders, particularly from other countries, including Russia. The image of Georgia was improved. But they don't cavil now either. There is the issue of the weather. This mid-August, for example, there was a huge mudflow on the Georgian Military Highway, which interrupted transport for almost a month. 150 trucks accumulated on the border. Ossetians who were in Georgia had to detour and pass through Azerbaijan.

This is the Caucasus. There are special relations not only with nature. People always survived here as a group. Even geopolitical matters cannot change this.

It is impossible to deprive Caucasians of their resourcefulness. It allowed Georgians to lead better lives than many other people in the Soviet Union. Now this quality helps people to survive here. The standards of living in Georgia are generally lower than even in its neighbor, North Ossetia. Soslan knows this from the example of his brother who lives in Batumi and dreams of working in the customs service with a monthly salary of about $450. But it is almost impossible for him to get this job. Someone from HR told him on average there are about 300 people competing for one place. Now the brother of Soslan earns the same amount of money working two jobs as an administrator in a bank and at a petrol station. The times when people had to go out of their way and work multiple jobs are over in North Ossetia. The average monthly salary of an employee of a public organization amounts to about 18 thousand rubles. In the summer, before the sharp decline of the ruble, this amounted to about $500. The collapse of the ruble has reduced the difference in pensions, however. Now the minimum pension in North Ossetia has reached the equivalent of $130, in Georgia it amounts to $91. In the summer the difference was about $60. It is difficult to convince the citizens of Georgia that they will soon live as happily as they used to in the Soviet period. But there is reason for optimism. During the rule of Shevardnadze, the minimum pension amounted to only $8.

People have another obstacle on the Georgian Military Highway - the border crossings. Georgian citizens can go through in the North only with visas and it is very difficult to get them at the Russian consulate. The biggest problems for Russians are long queues of vehicles. It is interesting that there are almost no cars in front of the Georgian checkpoint, whereas the major congestion is mostly on the Russian border. When I asked one of my Vladikavkaz interlocutors about the reasons for this state of affairs, he smiled: "Do you remember Soviet anecdotes about Georgians always looking for simple, mindless jobs? Everything has changed today. There is almost no corruption in Georgia among police or customs here. That's why there are no queues. On our border someone can approach you and offer you to jump the line for a small fee. But I've never seen anyone bribing customs officers..."

According to a political analyst in Vladikavkaz, Roland Kurbanov, mostly young people are coming to Georgia from Ossetia today, who grew up in the days of rigid ethnic confrontation and armed conflict. Their stories about the neighboring country create positive views of Georgia in Ossetian society. They do it better than any round tables, conferences, etc. could. The political scientist believes that young Georgians, who grew up on myths of "wild Ossetians", are also gradually changing their attitudes to their neighbors.