Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has signed a document permitting a three-month visa-free sojourn on Georgian territory for Russian citizens – residents of the North Caucasus. From now on, every citizen of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan can enter Georgia without a visa, simply by proving their permanent registration with their Russian passport or driver's license.
All Russian citizens can obtain their Georgian visas on preferential terms right at the border or at the airport, for instance. On the contrary, Georgian citizens have to obtain Russian visas beforehand in Tbilisi from the section of Russian interests within the Swiss Embassy in Georgia, and not all of them can get the clearance by any means.
After the resumption of land transport communications between Russia and Georgia via the newly established “Kazbegi – Verhniy Lars” checkpoint in North Ossetia, the Russian side insisted that Russian citizens could not obtain Georgian visas on this particular border point, so residents of the Caucasus had to go to Moscow for a visa or make a detour through Azerbaijan instead of travelling directly to Georgia. Therefore, President Saakashvili's order is aimed at making access to Georgia more comfortable and quick for residents of the North Caucasus.
United Caucasus
The decision by Georgian officials provoked a storm of emotional comments in Tbilisi as well as in Moscow. Russian officials interpreted this gesture as a challenge and were revolted at the fact of segregation of Russian citizens. However, it is Moscow that created a precedent for such segregation in 2001, when the visa system between Russia and Georgia was being introduced, residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia – citizens of Georgia back then – were allowed visa-free access to Russian territory.
However, political experts do not consider these actions of President Saakashvili a simple payback for the event of 2001 or even 2008. According to international observers, the document lays the foundation for a more ambitious project, voiced by Mr Saakashvili at the UN General Assembly meeting, stipulating the creation of a common Caucasian space (see http://www.vestikavkaza.ru/articles/politika/summit/26451.html). The lifting of the visa regime for North Caucasian residents won’t contribute to promoting terrorism, as travellers will have to pass through two checkpoints – “Kazbegi” in Georgia and “Verhniy Lars” in Russia. So the measures are expected to promote cultural, business and tourism ties between Caucasian people. Now people from the North Caucasus will have an opportunity to take the shortest road to Turkey or to enter Georgian universities or to spend their vacations on the Georgian Black Sea coast and ski resorts. Whether Georgia is economically capable of fulfilling the project remains uncertain, but its good intentions are beyond doubt.
Caucasus Wall
The order was issued on the 14th of October, and since then hundreds of Russian citizens have crossed the border under the new conditions. The opening ceremony was arranged almost like the festivities after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The most remarkable fact is that the Russian border guards did not stop those who wished to cross the border without a visa: formally they could do that on the grounds of the unilateral character of the Georgian visa abolition. Russian officials probably understand the inefficiency of such artificial obstacles between Caucasusian peoples and have no fear of the divided allegiances of their North Caucasian subjects.
However, these hasty actions of President Saakashvili provoked some criticism in his own country. As well-known political expert Mamuka Areshidze explained to VK, Vladikavkaz hosts the extremist organization ‘Daryal’, which claims North Ossetian rights to the Truso gorge in Georgia. Members of this organization now have an opportunity to carry out their extremist activities in the gorge itself, on Georgian territory.
The ruling Georgian coalition, however, prefers to take this risk. Nyzgar Tsiklauri, Georgian Parliamentary member, told VK that the North Caucasian peoples are close relatives of the Georgian people in some aspects of culture and history, so the door between Georgia and the North Caucasus should not be closed just because of a small gang of extremists.
Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi, exclusively to VK.
