In an interview with RIA Novosti, Georgian President Saakashvili was quoted as saying "when the chief of the Federal Security Service (FSB) for [the Russian republic of] Mordovia is appointed as head of the South Ossetian ministry of security, and when the deputy chief of the Siberian military district is named as the South Ossetian government s chief military aide, then we re not talking about regular personnel changes. "Likewise in Abkhazia, many residents have Russian passports and the Russian ruble is also commonly used in trade.maintains peacekeeping forces there that act as guarantors of each region s defacto separatism from Tbilisi. "Because of its unrecognized status Abkhazia has few ties apart from its link with Russia. The CIS peacekeeping force that patrols the ceasefire zone is made up entirely of Russian Federation soldiers. To many (though by no means all) in Abkhazia, Russia is perceived as the one source of military and economic security to which they can appeal. "Georgian experts believe that these regions continued dependence on Russia is a serious hindrance to the peace process.While the Kremlin does not currently formally recognize either region s independence, it maintains close political ties with their leaders. In September 2005, Moscow hosted the "self-styled leaders" of Georgia's breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as Moldova's Transdniester and Azerbaijan s Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh . The representatives pledged to pursue independence and Russian lawmaker Konstantin Zatulin, from the Kremlin-directed United Russia party, called the sovereignty of these entities a "reality that should be accepted." Such behavior only serves to exacerbate the perception that Russia is anything but a "neutral" peacekeeper in Georgia s conflict zones. With President Saakashvili having made resolution of Georgia s frozen conflicts part of this campaign, his job security and political clout is tied to progress on that front. Russia on the other hand may be counting on the internal conflicts to lead to regime change, perhaps to a more accommodating, pro-Moscow leader, if voters become disillusioned about Saakashvili ability to reach agreement with the Russian backed separatist regions. As Georgia continues to edge closer to Western institutions, Moscow appears not to have backed away from political mechanisms as a means to keep Georgia off balance; however Georgia s proximity to Europe allows it to counter the Kremlin s influence with its own political levers such as the regional organizations GUAM and the Community of Democratic Choice. Georgia and s ...
