Russia: Separatism at Home and in Near Abroad
Russian news devoted time and attention to the current problems and concerns in its near abroad. Daily Izvestia published a report from Abkhazia, a break-away region of Georgia that achieved independence together with South Ossetia in the early 1990s. Just like its former Georgian counterpart, Abkhazia is at the epicenter of the continuing stand-off between Russia and Georgia over the international legitimacy of the territory's status. Russia recently launched a massive campaign to award Russian passports to the resident of Abkhazia, and currently more than 80% of the people living in the province have Russian citizenship. The article describes Abkhazia's strong pro-Russian sentiment, and its hopes for common borders and a customs union with Russia and Belarus.
The province's Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba told reporters that Abkhazia already designated two plots of land in Sukhumi, the capital city, for the constriction of the Russian Embassy and Russian Ambassador's future residence, with "... construction to be undertaken by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ... which should be completed in two years and the diplomatic mission will have 30 diplomats." Shamba noted that Abkhazia has a representative office in Moscow, staffed by 12 people and that "soon enough, our Ambassador will submit his credential to (Russian President) Medvedev. We were already offered several mansions for out future permanent embassy."
The article's description of fait accompli concerning Abkhazia's relationship with Russia is a cause of concern to the European Union and the United States. The international community has tried to resolve the status of Abkhazia for the last 15 years, with no apparent success. Georgia considers Abkhazia part of its territory, the international community - including the United States - supports the territorial integrity of Georgia that includes Abkhazia and South Ossetia (where war was fought in August 2008). On the other hand, Russia threw its full military and diplomatic support behind the breakaway states that are on track to joining the Russian Federation in one way or another - as a constituent republic, as a unionized territory, or a legal territorial entity. Given the fact that similar status issues regrading South Ossetia were settled by war, there is concern that Abkhazia may become another source of military conflict between Russia and pro-Western Georgia.
In Georgia proper, Izvestia reports on the political scandal involving television stations that are favorable in their coverage to President Mikhail Saakashvili. The TV stations reported that future US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged to defend Georgia and Ukraine against Russia's "imperial ambitions." Pro-Saakashvili politicians and political experts tried to convince the population that such statements are a continuation of George W. Bush's foreign policy that maintains strategic partnership with Georgia. However, political opposition reported that Senator Clinton never pledged such policy in her Senate confirmation, and opposition media published the entire 16-page transcript of Clinton's congressional hearings. According to leading Georgian political opposition experts, "such attempts to state that "Obama cannot live without Saakashvili" is pure disinformation. Saakashvili is a great student of Brezhnev and Goebbels." Izvestia noted that President Saakashvili's press office did not refute oppositions' claims about Senator Clinton's actual words.
The question of separatism and breakaway tendencies received additional coverage in an interesting article that described the attempt by Russia's Sverdlovsky Oblast - which encompasses energy-rich Ural region - to secede from the Russian Federation in early 1990s. Online publication "Noviye Regioni" published a remarkable report on the exhibition devoted to the 75-year history of the Ural region. The exhibition featured "Ural Franks", printed in 1991 for use as official currency. Apparently, 56 million of these "franks" were printed in order to fight the inflation of the Soviet rubble that reached nearly 1,000% following years of economic liberalization launched in 1987. Following the deteriorating economic climate, Sverdlvosky Oblast held a popular referendum in early 1990s, in which more than 60% of the population supported the session of the Middle Ural region from the Russian Federation. The idea to use Ural franks as official currency alongside Soviet rubble was even floated to Egor Gaidar, then Economic and Finance Minister of the Russian Federation (still part of the USSR in 1991) and future Economic Minister of independent Russia. There are some uncomfortable parallels between the crashing Soviet economy that facilitated the breakup of the USSR in 1991 and the current worsening economic situation across Russia, which today affects many regions, including Sverdlovsky Oblast.
Turning to the incoming administration of the President-elect Barack Obama, business daily "Vzglyad" published a farewell review of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. The paper noted that Rice was one of Russia's strongest critics, especially during the August 2008 war between Georgia and Russian Federation over South Ossetia. The paper quotes Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stating that he tried to ask Rice over the years to put pressure on Georgia in order to prevent military conflict, with Secretary of State failing to restrain her allies. He noted that for Moscow, the political dialogue with incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be much more cordial than with Rice.
