Russia and Nicaragua will hold joint military exercises, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on the sidelines of talks with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega during a working visit to Latin America, RIA-Novosti reported Monday via The Moscow Times.

The planned exercises could anger the United States, which considers Latin America as part of its traditional sphere of influence.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin published an article Monday in Kommersant denying a report in the newspaper last week that Russia may invest in Cuba if the island nation recognizes Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent countries.

Following a brief war in August 2008, Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia’s independence and persuaded Nicaragua and Venezuela to follow suit.

Russia has been intensely courting Latin American countries. The leaders of Argentina, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba all visited Moscow last year to renew bilateral contacts. Russian firms, especially state-owned ones, have secured lucrative contracts in electricity and oil and gas sectors.

In the fall of 2008, Moscow sent two strategic bombers and several warships to Venezuela for joint exercises in what appeared to be a retaliatory move after the United States sent warships to the Black Sea to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia.

Lavrov began his tour across Latin American countries last week in Cuba and Nicaragua. The minister arrived in Guatemala on Monday in what was Russia’s first official visit to the country. He was to visit Mexico on Tuesday and Wednesday, RIA-Novosti said.

Officials in Georgia believe that Kremlin skullduggery has succeeded in pulling the plug on a Georgian satellite television channel capable of broadcasting Russian-language content throughout the former Soviet Union, reports Eurasianet.com

In late January, Eutelsat, a French satellite broadcast operator, abruptly stopped transmission of Georgia’s First Caucasian channel, which was set up to promote Tbilisi’s viewpoint among Russian-speaking viewers. First Caucasian representatives say that Russian broadcast executives, acting at the Kremlin’s behest, were behind Eutelsat’s decision. The channel’s managers claim that Moscow wants to muzzle pro-Tbilisi broadcasts and to effectively block its ability to reach a Russian-speaking audience. [For additional information click here].

The direct cause for the shut-down is a supposed Eutelsat deal with Russian satellite company Intersputnik for broadcasts of a channel reportedly financed by Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled energy behemoth. First Caucasian representatives contend the Eutelsat’s deal with Intersputnik gave the Russian entity control of all 16 transponders on the French firm’s W7 satellite, which was being used by the Georgian broadcaster. As a result, Intersputnik effectively pushed First Caucasian off the air, according to representatives of Georgian Public Broadcasting (GPB), which financed the Russian-language channel.

During late-January discussions between GPB and Eutelsat representatives, the French firm reportedly offered to transmit First Caucasian on other satellites, but the Georgians refused, citing the fact that only the W7 satellite beams programming that is viewable in Russia with existing dishes, according to GPB’s version of events. Switching to different satellites would have required Russian viewers to purchase new dishes in order to receive the First Caucasian signal. During the same discussions, Eutelsat reportedly attributed the interruption in the transmission of First Caucasian broadcasts to hackers, GPB representatives contended.

“They [Eutelsat] have suddenly changed the initially discussed deal and proposed terms that are not realistic,” said First Caucasian Executive Producer Zurab Dvali. “We have reasons to believe that the Russians, who transmit many channels via Eutelsat satellites, have told them not to transmit our channel. É It is very regrettable that the French, who come here [to Tbilisi] and preach to us about democracy and freedom of speech, brush aside these concepts when it comes to business and politics.”

Citing an unnamed diplomat in Tbilisi, the right-wing Parisian daily Le Figaro reported on January 27 that Eutelsat is allegedly under pressure from Russia not to carry the channel. An anonymous Eutelsat employee also reported “interferences” that could terminate the company’s association with First Caucasian.

First Caucasian started broadcasting online on January 1 and launched test broadcasts on Eutelsat on January 15. Eutelsat stopped carrying the channel roughly a week later, television representatives say.

In response to queries from EurasiaNet, Eutelsat attributed the cessation of First Caucasian programming to the conclusion of the channel’s trial testing period. “For one week there was a test period of the channel, which has now finished, and we are now in discussion of future options,” Eutelsat spokesperson Vanessa O’Connor wrote in an email. “It is not company policy to comment on on-going negotiations, so we have no further comments at this stage.”

O’Connor on February 1 rejected accusations that Moscow exerted any influence on negotiations. She indicated that there were no immoveable obstacles that would prevent Eutelsat and First Caucasian from reaching a new deal.

Georgian Public Broadcasting Company General Director Gia Chanturia hinted to EurasiaNet that Eutelsat was reneging on contractual obligations. “We have a contract, which lays out the terms of the deal pretty clearly, but now they [Eutelsat representatives] are finding fault with everything — be it content, technical problems, finances or what have you,” Chanturia said.

Eutelsat operates the only two satellites in Europe that are “well positioned” to cover Russia and other former Soviet states, Chanturia added. “I assure you we will do everything to ensure that the original deal is implemented,” he said.

Read more here

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A Georgian version of the popular US cartoon “The Simpsons” has become a hit on state TV recently. The main difference from the prototype is that they make lots of fun of Russian politicians, while forgetting their own, writes Russia Today.

It’s an average family with average problems – and it’s taking Georgia by storm.

The cartoon series launched just two months ago and has shot to the number two spot among the most-popular shows on one of Georgia’s main TV channels.

“The Samsonadzes” have been described as Georgia’s answer to “The Simpsons”.

But the show’s creators are quick to point out the differences.

“They’re as different as American and Georgian families can be. We just took an average family and made a parody of the common traits, like laziness or love of alcohol,” says the cartoon’s chief scriptwriter, Zviad Bliadze.

The cartoon focuses on a family of four and their everyday life in Tbilisi.

The creators hope their project will reach a level of success similar to that of “The Simpsons” – and in fact, both sitcoms share bright colors, lively animation and lampooning the mindset of the average family man.

As prospects dim for a quick reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border, Georgian business executives remain quietly content, reports Eurasianet.org. Trouble with the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process can mean continued economic benefits for Georgian traders.

Turkey and Armenia signed reconciliation protocols last October that specified that their mutual border would be reopened to trade upon ratification by both countries’ parliaments. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Strong domestic opposition, however, has delayed the ratification process, and some experts now question whether the protocol provisions will ever be implemented. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

For the past 16 years, since Azerbaijan and Turkey closed their borders with Armenia during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Georgia has been Armenia’s sole route for exports to both the West and Russia. Cargo bound for Armenia enters Georgia at the Black Sea ports of Poti and Batumi and then travels south several hundred kilometers to Yerevan via road or rail. A shorter overland route from Russia via a border-crossing point in the Georgian highland region of Upper Larsi has been closed since 2006. In December, Georgian and Russian officials agreed to reopen the Upper Larsi crossing, pending the resolution of technical details. Georgian diplomats hinted that the transit route could be operating again in March.

The reopening of the Armenia-Turkey border could diminish Georgia’s status as a transit hub. A spokesperson for the Association of Armenian Freight Forwarders, Diana Sarkisian, indicated that the Turkish Black Sea port of Trabzon or the Mediterranean Sea port of Mersin are more attractive shipping points for Armenian exporter/importers because of significantly lower transit fees and costs.

Data from the Georgian Ministry of Economic Development shows that Armenia-bound cargo accounted for 13 percent of Georgia’s overall transit traffic for the first nine months of 2009. The ministry could not, however, put a monetary figure on the value of that traffic. Georgian regulations exempt transit traffic from taxes and fees; economic benefits come via related jobs and demand for improved infrastructure, claimed Maumuka Vatsadze, head of the ministry’s Transportation Department.

Gia Tsipuria, general secretary of the Georgian International Road Carriers Association, estimated that cargo traffic bound for Armenia might drop by 40 percent if the Turkish-Armenian border reopened.

But Georgia plays a greater role than just a transit corridor. Despite the 1993 Turkish embargo on trade with Armenia, Turkish products abound in Armenian stores. The key to their access lies in Georgia, where Armenian entrepreneurs regularly register trading companies that import goods from Turkey and then re-export them to Armenia, Georgian shipping company executives say.

The Georgian Ministry of Economic Development’s Vatsadze acknowledged that the practice exists. Turkey, Vatsadze said, chooses to turn a blind eye to the practice. The Georgian government, in turn, maintains that it cannot restrict transit via Georgia to other countries.

Giorgi Tsomaia, general director of CaucasTrans Expeditor, a private shipping company, agreed. “Business is business,” commented Tsomaia, whose firm once handled an Armenian order for Turkish tractors. “It always finds routes and ways to contact people who need a product.”

No data exists about the extent of re-exports to Armenia since Turkish products bound for Armenia name Georgia as their final official destination.

Read more here

Russia has strengthened its borders with Georgia amid concerns that an armed squad might be sent from Georgian territory to commit terror acts in Russia, reports Russia Today.

“According to information we have received, militants might be sent to Dagestan from Georgia to carry out terror acts at fuel and energy facilities and railways ahead of the New Year holidays,” Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) department in Dagestan said.

The FSB informed that it has toughened security measures at the Dagestani section of the Russian-Georgian border.

“The entire set of measures necessary in such cases has been taken. The border guards have been put on alert, and operations with agents have been intensified.”

Tbilisi has officially denied the allegations:

“This is an absolutely absurd accusation aimed at slinging mud at Georgia on the international arena. The authors of this absurdity could have as well announced Georgia’s preparations for attacking Moscow,” deputy chairman of the Georgian parliament Paata Davitaya told journalists on Wednesday.

Despite the allegations, The Georgian Times reports that the Kazbegi-Zemo Larsi border crossing point between Russia and Georgia will be reopened tentatively in March, 2010.

A formal protocol on the decision to reopen the border will be signed within next two weeks, Nino Kalandadze, the Georgian deputy foreign minister, said on December 24.

Russia’s federal agency in charge of border infrastructure (Rosgranitsa) said that the decision was reached during the meeting between Georgia and Russian officials on December 23 in Kazbegi, Georgia. The meeting was held with the mediation of diplomats from the Swiss embassy. Switzerland represents Russia’s diplomatic interests in Georgia and Georgia’s interests in Russia after the two countries cut diplomatic ties after the August war.

Land traffic between the two countries through Kazbegi-Zemo Larsi border crossing point was closed by Russia in July, 2006; two other border crossing points are located in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but they are considered by Georgia to be operating illegally and entry into Georgia via its breakaway regions is banned by the Georgian law.

Russia and Georgia have both nominated candidates for Europe’s only ombudsman for press freedom, and as a result both have zero chances of success, observers told The Moscow Times.

Mikhail Fedotov, secretary of the Union of Journalists, said Tuesday that he had been nominated by the Foreign Ministry as Russia’s candidate for the post at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE.

Oleg Panfilov, the head of the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, said he was Georgia’s candidate.

“Yes, it is true. I am the Georgian candidate for that post,” Panfilov told The Moscow Times.

He said he and Fedotov flew to the OSCE’s headquarters in Vienna last week to promote their bids, together with candidates from four other countries. Panfilov refused to speak about details or his chances, citing the ongoing nomination process.

The competing bids are unusual because Panfilov’s institute operates as a human rights organization within the Russian Union of Journalists. Both organizations share the same address on Moscow’s Zubovsky Bulvar.

Panfilov has been a frequent and outspoken critic of the conditions for journalists in Russia. In comparison, the union has toed a more official line.

An ethnic Russian from Tajikistan, Panfilov said he does not have Russian citizenship and received a Georgian passport last September in addition to his Tajik one.

The Vienna-based OSCE representative on media freedom is appointed for a six-year term. The position, which was only created in 1998, is currently held by Hungarian writer Miklos Haraszti, whose term expires next spring.

Lithuanian foreign minister Vyguadas Usackas has said the EU made a mistake in setting up the enquiry into the Georgia war, amid Russian claims that the investigation has proved it right.

“If I had been in the [EU] Council at the time, I would not have supported this idea,” Mr Usackas said in a phone interview with EUobserver on Wednesday (30 September).

“The wounds are too sensitive to open. I don’t think it’s useful from a pragmatic point of view, just one year after the conflict, to engage in a not very helpful debate about who should be blamed.”

The minister made the remarks on the eve of a trip to Tbilisi for meetings with President Mikheil Saakashvili and opposition figures, designed “to show solidarity with the Georgian people.”

“If the international community had stepped in earlier and provided integration prospects for Georgia the war could have been avoided,” he added, on the EU and Nato’s refusal to extend membership perspectives.

“We should have been a good uncle to this country.”

EU diplomats at a lunchtime discussion in Brussels earlier on Wednesday also said the union should have done more in the run-up to the conflict. But nobody criticised the investigation itself, a source present at the meeting told this website.

The EU drew up plans for the enquiry on the request of German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in September last year a few weeks after the fighting ended.

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Russia Today reports that an investigative report carried out by the EU indicates that Georgia is responsible for unleashing the Five-Day War in the Caucasus last August.

The report was commissioned by the Council of the European Union. More than 30 European military, history and legal specialists – headed by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini – compiled the document. The group concluded that it was Georgia who fired the first shot and the opening attack was not justifiable under international law.

The report is huge, made up of three volumes which make up more than a thousand pages in total. Russia’s envoy to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov received the document personally from Heidi Tagliavini and says he is satisfied with it.

“The part I managed to see already is unequivocal. It’s unequivocal on the main issue – who started the war,” Vladimir Chizhov told RT.

When asked whether the report was a victory for Russia, Chizhov said “no, it’s been a victory for reason.”

“I think this is more important for those who still might not have a clear picture of the events in that sense,” Russian official added.

The EU Observer confirms that the 1,150-page long study is the culmination of nine months of work by a 20-strong team of legal and military experts based in Geneva and headed by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini.

EU member states last year launched and paid for the €1.6 million investigation. The independent survey comes atop nine previous reports into the conflict by other organs, including the UN, the US Congress and the British House of Lords.

Ms Tagliavini’s study also heaped blame on Russia and on South Ossetian irregular forces.

It said Russia had the right to defend Russian peacekeeping soldiers stationed in Tskhinvali. But it described Russia’s subsequent mass-scale incursion into Georgia as illegal and disproportionate.

“Much of the Russian action went beyond the reasonable limits of self-defence,” it said. “Extended Russian military action reaching out into Georgia was conducted in violation of international law.”

The Swiss report rejected Russia’s claims that it was acting to protect Russian citizens in South Ossetia.

The Georgian Times, quoting the The Times (UK) reports:

Tbilisi’s submission to the EU accused Russia of preparing a “full-scale war against Georgia” for months before the conflict began. However, it also acknowledged that Mr Saakashvili ordered troops into the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, after a day of escalating confrontation with separatists.

“Georgian military efforts were directed towards previously identified military targets, located in the South Ossetia/Tskhinvali region,” the documents stated.
“In line with Georgia’s defensive objectives, artillery fire was also directed at a Russian tank convoy that was moving towards the South Ossetia/Tskhinvali conflict zone. Similarly, military aviation bombed the Gupta Bridge with the aim of stopping Russian tanks that were moving towards South Ossetia/Tskhinvali region.”
Mr Yakobashvili said that the EU report could not blame Georgia for the war, adding: “How can Georgia start a war in our own territory when we are fighting Russians in our territory? The war did not start on August 7. There was ample evidence that the Russians were arming the so-called separatists and deploying troops prior to August 7 and provoking clashes.”

Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s Ambassador to Nato, defended the Kremlin’s actions and rejected claims that it had used disproportionate force. Mr Rogozin told reporters in Moscow: “Georgia attacked South Ossetia and did so in an utterly brutal manner. It is a tragedy of Georgia because Georgia became smaller as a result.

“When you have acid splashed in your face and you put on brass knuckles and give the attacker a good punch, is that proportionate or disproportionate? If the response had been disproportionate I think we would have had our troops in Tbilisi.”

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Georgia is in negotiations with the United States about accepting a number of Guantanamo Bay prisoners, says The Moscow Times.

Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze discussed the issue with U.S. diplomat Daniel Fried during talks late Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Interfax reported.

Fried, who is the State Department’s special envoy on closing Guantanamo, told reporters after the meeting that if Tbilisi agrees, a small number of detainees might be sent there. But he stressed that no decision had been made so far.

Vashadze said the issue was so far purely theoretical. “Georgia has not given an answer yet on the question of receiving Guantanamo prisoners,” he said.

Government officials in Tbilisi declined to comment further on the matter Wednesday.

U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered the Guantanamo detention camp closed by January, and Washington has been pushing for other countries to accept prisoners who have not been charged with wrongdoing.

Fried visited Tbilisi in August, and The Washington Post later reported that Georgia was among those countries with which the United States had held “positive talks” on resettling Guantanamo detainees.

Georgia was one of the United States’ staunchest allies under the administration of former President George W. Bush and fought a brief war with Russia over its breakaway province of South Ossetia last year. Tbilisi has been anxious to keep warm relations with Washington, although Obama has vowed to improve ties with Moscow.

At a meeting with President Mikheil Saakashvili in New York on Monday, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said Washington continues its support for Georgia’s territorial integrity.

A Georgian media report said Tuesday that Clinton and Saakashvili also talked about plans to open up new U.S. military bases in the country.

The United States could open six bases for up to 25,000 troops in Georgia by 2014, the Resonansi newspaper reported, citing unidentified officials. It said the bases were lobbied for by a group of Republican congressmen.

Washington’s success in settling more than 200 prisoners at Guantanamo has been slow, and so far only four Uighurs, members of China’s Muslim minority, have moved to Bermuda, a British overseas territory in the Atlantic.

Palau, a Pacific Island nation, has offered to take another 13 Uighurs, but only four have agreed to move, The Associated Press reported last week. Washington reportedly offered Palau $200 million in exchange for accepting them.

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While investigating the genocide and mass killings of Russian citizens in South Ossetia in August 2008, it has appeared that the Ukraine was participating in the massacre, Russia’s Investigative Committee says.

The Investigative Committee of the General Prosecutor’s Office says irrefutable proof has been uncovered.

It states that full-time servicemen of the Ukrainian army and some 200 members of the Ukrainian nationalist organization UNA-UNSO (“Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self-Defense”) were participating in the August 2008 armed conflict in South Ossetia, siding with Georgia.

“Among the UNA-UNSO members who took part in Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia were people with the surnames Shapoval, Kucherenko, Shevchenko, Matvsyuk and Zheltokon,” added Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the Investigative Committee.

According to Vladimir Markin, investigators found battle uniforms, personal belongings, photos and other documents belonging to militants from UNA-UNSO in a police building in the village of Ochabeti – a Georgian enclave near Tskhinval. Georgian police orders intended to supply members of the organization with vehicles, were also found.

Moreover, during Russia’s peace-compelling operation in South Ossetia BUK-M and OSA-AKA air defense missiles with Ukrainian marking were found, he added.

According to the data obtained by investigators, the air defense missiles in question underwent scheduled maintenance at Ukrainian defense plants in May 2008 – two months before South Ossetia was attacked.

“To clarify all the circumstances, a request for legal assistance was filed to the competent Ukrainian authorities, and it’s Ukraine’s fault that the answer has not yet been received,” Markin said.

Earlier a parliamentary investigation committee in Ukraine found that the country supplied weapons to Georgia prior to Tbilisi’s attack on South Ossetia. The probe was initiated after reports emerged that Ukraine delivered arms to Georgia before the invasion.

Read the full story here.