By Vestnik Kavkaza
Yesterday the editor-in-chief of Vestnik Kavkaza Alexei Vlasov was a guest of the show “International Politics” on the radio “Golos Rossii” where he expressed his views on the situation in South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Georgia after the recognition of independence of the former Georgian autonomies by Russia.
Commenting on the situation in South Ossetia, Vlasov said: “Wounds are still fresh. It touches on attitudes in the South Ossetian society. People still remember the events. I visited Tskhinval six weeks ago, talked to young people, met tutors from the university in Tskhinval and realized that ash beats in the hearts of the Ossetian people. Of course they forgot nothing. The situation will seriously influence attitudes, minds and conditions in the South Ossetian society in the near future…
From the point of view of security guarantees, Russia plays a key role for South Ossetia, and Tskhinval admits it. I traveled together with military journalists who met our soldiers and military men who serve there. There is only one possible guarantee – Russia. However, security problems are not the only ones, there are issues with socio-economic development, restoration after the war – it concerns people. There are many unsettled problems… The current president of South Ossetia Tibilov managed to achieve a lot. When you come to Tskhinval, you see that streets are being repaired, as well as buildings. A new building for the South Caucasus university is planned to be built.”
According to the political scientist, in South Ossetia “people have a hope for changing the situation. For sure, there are certain difficulties because now a report is required for each ruble coming from Moscow – when Golikova (Tatyana Golikova is the presidential aide on socio-economic affairs of South Ossetia and Abkhazia) came, the approach changed. She began to control allocation of money to South Ossetia. For example, 100 thousand ruble are allocated, there is a schedule, a contract, an acceptance report – no problem. The situation doesn’t satisfy executive managers sometimes because the project is partially political, and everybody got used to another treatment. A reasonable balance is needed here. But I think Golikova is right. It improves organization… At the moment South Ossetia is prepared for the parliamentary elections. 15 parties want to take places in the legislative body; so, the election campaign will be tense.”
Speaking about the situation in Abkhazia, Vlasov stressed that “from the economic point of view, the situation is similar to South Ossetia – a strict definition of direction for spending Russian money is being undertaken. Obviously, from the economic point of view Abkhazia has more opportunities than South Ossetia. In recent times the church problem is being actively discussed. After the war, Georgian clerics left Abkhazia, and today the majority of religious activists are those who studied in Russia. Some Abkhazian clerics support moving toward the Constantinople Patriarchy, which was negatively considered by the Russian Orthodox Church.”
Answering the question on reasons why Abkhazia doesn’t want to build tight contacts with the Moscow Patriarchy, Vlasov says that “the point is in a higher level of autonomy. The contacts exist, but the autocephaly issue can be settled only due to long internal processes. It would be right not to turn the problem into a political one. Unfortunately, some hotheads try to use political technologies in this case. Religious affairs deserver a calmer dialogue.”
As for the influence of the Olympics in Sochi on the economy of Abkhazia, the expert noted: “It would be an exaggeration to say that it will create opportunities for the development of the Abkhazian economy. The Strategy of Social Economic Development of Abkhazia to 2020-2030 should be developed thoroughly. Abkhazia have resources; but the responsibilities between ministries and departments should be distributed; an image of the country should be formed which would attract ambitious and patriotic Abkhazian young people.”
Commenting on the situation in Georgia which is preparing for the presidential elections, Vlasov said that the country “will have to solve social and economic problems, despite the results of the elections. The Russian market has already been opened for Georgian wine, but probably more serious economic projects are needed. A part of the population thought that Ivanishvili would invest his money into such projects. However, he is a manager and won’t do it. Georgia has resources, but they should be supported by professionals, as Georgian Dream is not a solid political force, and the government of Ivanishvili is more political than professional.”
Vlasov notes a certain progress in the normalization of Georgian-Russian relations. As an example of humanitarian cooperation, he mentions visits by young professionals from Georgia to Moscow – journalists, experts, those who will define information policy in the future.
The expert is sure that “a movement toward gradual normalization of relations will continue. In Russia the structures which are responsible for the Caucasus direction do their best to support the balance of interests in the Caucasus. However, not everything depends on Moscow, so Russia should be strong and friendly toward all countries of the South Caucasus.”
