Echoes of the Past, Moscow-Style

This may have gone unnoticed by the Western and American media, but less than two months ago, this rather interesting news clip was shown across Russia. Following Russia's convincing victory against the beleaguered Georgian forces in early August, Moscow drove home the point that it would not tolerate any action that it deemed counter to its newfound success in the Caucasus region.

This news clip on the Izvestia (News) website shows Russian special forces arresting a Russian officer of Georgian ethnic origin, Mikhail Chahidze. The voiceover calls Officer Chahidze "the most dangerous agent of Georgian intelligence services on Russian territory." According to the commentator, Chahidze "was supposed to gather information on the Russian forces in the Caucasus region, on his fellow ethnic Georgians who serve in the Russian military, as well as gather information on the commanders and senior officers of the Russian Army." The newscast claims Chahidze was recruited at the end of last year and that "in case of war" officers and commanders [of the Russian Army] were supposed to be targeted first."

The same website later published an article that sent a not-so-subtle message about ethnic Georgian guest workers and illegal immigrants currently working in Russia, especially in Moscow. At present, there are hundreds of thousands of Georgian men working on manual labor tasks all over the Russian Federation. They are drawn to Russia by the promise of a job and of a relatively good pay for their work - something they cannot get in their battered homeland.

Today, these people are caught in the middle between the nationalist aspirations of their Georgian homeland and the new reality imposed by the Russian August invasion. The Izvestia article dating to September 19, 2008 is titled "Georgia Fought With The Money Sent Over From Russia?"