«The Abkhazian Road is Necessary Only for Armenians and Russians»,

PanARMENIAN.Net - Early in October, during the visit of the co-chairman of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation, Russian Minister of Transport Igor Levitin made quite an optimistic announcement about the possible establishment of a Russian-Georgian-Abkhazian-Armenian consortium which will carry out the renovation of the Abkhazian part of Transcaucasian railroad. After visiting Yerevan, Levitin went to Tbilisi where he had to make sure that the Georgian party was ready to start solving technical problems without linking them to the problem of returning refugees to Gali region. Up to now, it is unclear how justified was the optimism expressed by the Russian minister in Yerevan. The dates of the Russian-Georgian-Armenian meeting on the issue of creating the consortium talked about by Georgian Prime-Minister Zurab Nogaidely, have not been fixed yet. Meanwhile, the voices of Georgian politicians who search for any ways to achieve the breakdown of reached agreements concerning Abkhazian road gets louder and louder.

More active among those politicians are the leaders of the so-called "Abkhazian government in exile", that is to say former leaders of Abkhazian Autonomous Republic which used to be a part of Georgian Soviet Socialistic Republic. Currently those politicians live in Tbilisi and call themselves "legitimate leaders of the north-eastern region of Georgia". During Shevardnadze those people were taken into consideration, but Michael Sahakashvili thinks more pragmatically and realizes that because of the non-functioning of Abkhazian railroad, Georgia annually looses about 600 million US dollars. (Losses were estimated by Georgian economists). However, the leaders of "We on our own" movement, initiated by the former leaders of Abkhazian autonomy, have quite different priorities in this respect. Their slogan is "No cooperation without the restoration of Abkhazia's sovereignty". In order to reach their goal the leaders of the movement openly put undisguised pressure on the political leadership of Georgia through rallies and actions of protest in Tbilisi. The "Ministers in exile" think that it is their "principality" and "inflexibility" that prevents Georgian leaders from giving final approval to the resumption of Abkhazian railroad.

In his interview to Azeri journalists, the head of «We on our own» movement, former Justice Minister from the «government in exile» Paata Davitaya came down to undisguised blackmail, threatening with terrorist acts on the railroad. "If the railroad is put into operation, it is quite possible that Georgian refugees from Abkhazia will blow it up", Davitaya said. The former minister says that the railroad is necessary not for Georgians, but for Russians and Armenians who put pressure on Tbilisi. Davitaya makes a hint that «uncontrolled» railway communication between Moscow and Yerevan will allow Russia to deliver weapons to Armenia. Playing on the emotions of Azeris, the leaders of "We on our own" movement pledge for the support of neighbors, probably realizing that they will not be able to cope with the task on their own. ''I hope that Azerbaijan will also express opinion on the issue, because problems of separatism are alike both for Azerbaijan and Georgia. If Baku and Tbilisi played together, Armenia would not feel so free in Karabakh and Samtskhe Javakhetia''. Davitaya does not hide the reasons for flirting with Azerbaijan. ''Georgia needs Azerbaijan more than Azerbaijan needs Georgia'', he thinks.
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