EurasianStudies_0110..

January-March 2010 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume II., Issue 1.
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would provide leverage to Russia to strike the pipeline in case of intensification of Russia-Georgia
rivalry.
The Russian Defence Ministry document released on 2 October 2002 by Sergei Ivanov, then Defence
Minister, mandated Russia to use force in any part of the former Soviet Union, which threatens its
security and integrity. Ivanov cited ‘instability in border areas’ as a reason for Russian military strike as,
“We cannot absolutely rule out preventative use of force if Russia’s interests or its obligations as an ally
require it.” Hence, the Georgian attack on South Ossetia might have provided occasion to interfere as it
pertains not only to instability in its borders but also due to security as thousands of South Ossetians
crossed over to North Ossetia in Russia as refugees. Besides, Russia has insisted that Georgia in its
Pankisi Gorge has sheltered Chechen terrorists, who establish training facilities there and make chemical
weapons to attack Russia.
Some other factors must be kept in mind in the context of Russia-Georgia rivalry. The recent Kosovo
crisis, in which Russia almost lost its face in diplomatic channel, has motivated Russia to harp on a
policy to disintegrate Georgia. Kosovo, a conclave of majority Muslims within Serbia, demanded
independence from Serbia in the wake of the disintegration of Yugoslavia in early 1990s. Serbia, a Slavic
country like Russia, strongly desisted the Kosovan independence movement, supported by NATO and
EU. Kosovo finally emerged independent in February 2008. Russia applies the same logic to South
Ossetia and Abkhazia, as both are ethnically different and both in their referendums (as in Kosovo)
voted for independence. In a referendum on 12 November 2006, the de facto independent republic of
South Ossetia voted for independence by a majority vote. It appears a kind of tit for tat policy, and
Russia is determined to punish Georgia directly for supporting the West in Kosovo, and to reply the
West by returning the Kosovo with South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The situation got worsened after Georgia declared its willingness to join NATO. The NATO
Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visited Georgia in October 2007 with a mission to study the
possibility of Georgia’s joining with the military alliance in near future. Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei
Lavrov, has reported to have said, “Russia would do anything to prevent Ukraine and Georgia to be
members of NATO”. Earlier, in February 2007, then Russian President Putin in Munich conference had
criticised NATO as redundant as this cold war military machine has no rationale for existence in
post-cold war period. Some of the Russian analysts argue that the Georgian plan in attacking South
Ossetia was to trigger Russia’s response, thus facilitating its quick admission to NATO without
formalities like a membership plan. The NATO supported Caspian Sea Guard, with the declared motive
to protect BTC, has irritated Russians as they see it as a design to achieve some other ambitions.
On 15 July 2008 under the code name ‘Immediate Response 2008,’ one thousand US troops began a
military training exercise in Georgia. The Georgian cooperation with the US and the NATO to minimise
the Russian influence in the post-Soviet space has created much animosity between Georgia and Russia.
For instance, in the Caspian Sea basin region, Russia has dominance over the energy resources as well as
pipelines. But, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, operationalised in 2005, is the first such
pipeline which bypasses Russian territory, thus reducing Russian influence in the region. The 1,770km
pipeline pumps up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from Azerbaijan to Turkey, where it is loaded on
supertankers for delivery to Europe and the US.
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