Saakashvili Wins Tank Battle with Opposition
RIA-Novosti
May 5, 2009
A single armored tank battalion near Tbilisi announced on Tuesday its refusal to obey Georgia's authorities, demanding a dialog between the country's leadership and the opposition. Georgia's MVD (Interior Ministry) declared that it had averted an armed coup, and President Mikheil Saakashvili personally took part in talks with the mutineers, most of whom were arrested.
All these events took place in Georgia a day before joint exercises with NATO. The Georgian authorities suspected the organizers of the act of insubordination of attempting to undermine the exercises and Russia of interfering in its domestic affairs. The Kremlin advised the authors of these kinds of statements to get checked out by a doctor.
The Georgian opposition, which has been demanding that Saakashvili step down for more than a month, believes the incident was provoked by the Georgian leadership in order to distract the nation from its real problems.
"We have proof that this is a show, and we're going to present that proof," Zviad Dzidziguri, one of the leaders of the Georgian Conservative Party, stated.
The Conspiracy and Mukhrovani Mutineers
Just prior to this, Georgian oppositions drew in "bloody" tracks the road leading to the Georgian MVD building in Tbilisi, and the next day the real blood of soldiers sympathetic to the oppositionists could have been spilled.
On Tuesday the Georgian MVD stated that it had solved the case of the preparation of a major armed uprising that had pursued the goal of undermining the NATO exercises and seizing the entire country. Shota Utiashvili, head of the MVD's information analysis department, says that the RF (Russian Federation) special services financed the mutiny preparations. Several former highly placed Georgian military men were arrested and a few more are wanted.
After the Georgian MVD announced that the plot had been uncovered, the armored tank battalion stationed in Mukhrovani, a town 30 kilometers from Tbilisi, announced its refusal to obey the authorities. Several dozen units of different armored equipment immediately moved out in the direction of the military base, and soon afterward the military police had encircled the rebels.
The commander of the mutinous battalion, Vice-Colonel Mamuka Gorgishvili, explained what was going on by saying that the soldiers "could no longer tolerate" the situation that had come about in the country and they were in favor of a dialog between the authorities and the opposition, which since 9 April had been holding mass actions in Tbilisi demanding that the president step down.
The commander emphasized that the soldiers would not undertake aggressive actions.
"It is impossible tolook calmly on the process of the country's destruction and the current conflict; however, there will be no aggressive actions whatsoever from our tank unit. We are living in the barracks and have no intention of going anywhere," Gorgishvili said.
"The Hand of Moscow"
Initially, talks with the battalion's representatives were conducted by Shmagi Teliya, commander of landforces; however, later the negotiators were joined by President Saakashvili, who explained yet again his concern about a provocation by Russia.
"The Georgian state did not succumb to Russia's provocation. This is an isolated incident, it did not spread to other military units, and the situation is under control. Order and stability have been maintained in the country," Saakashvili stated.
According to him, the incident at Mukhrovani occurred on the eve of two very important events: the NATO exercises; and the EU (European Union) summit in Prague, where the Eastern Partnership program was supposed to be signed.
Saakashvili "Sent"f or a Medical Exam
The statements by Georgian authorities about Russia's involvement in the uprising at Mukhrovani, as well as about the increased Russian military presence in the region, speak to the inadequacy of the Georgian leadership, the Kremlin believes.
In response to a request for comment on statements by Saakashvili and his subordinates regarding the fact that a Russian trail can supposedly be traced in the events in Georgia, the Black Sea Fleet is in Georgia's water area, and the presence of Russian armed forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia has been increased, a Kremlin sourcere acted laconically.
"He should see a doctor,"he said.
The RF MID (Foreign Ministry) called Tbilisi's accusations a clumsy anti-Russian prank.
"This isn't the first time we've been accused without proof of interfering. It's characteristic that each time the charges get clumsier and clumsier. All kinds of things have been said. Matters still haven't reached the point of assertions that Russia is trying to overthrow the Georgian government with the help of the Georgian armed forces, though," an MID statement says.
Arrest in the President's Presence
Saakashvili gave a strict promise not to punish the mutineers in the armored tank battalion and called on them to put down their arms. The talks, which lasted more than four hours, ended without bloodshed and successfully for the Georgian authorities.
As the Georgian MVD reported, the soldiers who rebelled at the Mukhrovani military base put down their weapons, they were disarmed, and nearly all the organizers were arrested. A few men from the battalion fled and a search for them is under way.
The president left the base after holding the talks with the mutineers. He demanded that the interior minister carefully investigate the uprising and said that all the guilty parties must be "found wherever they're hiding and punished according to the law."
As a Georgian MVD statement asserts, the uprising's organizers admitted that their goal was to keep the NATO exercises from being held in Georgia.
"At this stage, the mutineers' other plans are still being determined," the document says. "The situation in Tbilisi and the rest of Georgia is stable and under the control of the country's authorities."
Georgian Army Theater
The Georgian opposition stated that the incident involving the failure to obey the authorities by a single armored tank battalion and the assertions about preventing a military coup were provoked by the Georgian leadership itself in order to distract the nation from its real problems.
David Gamkrelidze, leader of the New Rights, believes that the uprising "may turn out to have been initiated by the authorities in order to divert the nation's attention to something else."
"What we saw was like a one-man theater, where a person quite consciously names names and draws an apocalyptic picture of people who had fled the country returning and killing long-time politicians," he said.
Exercises Will Go According to Plan
In spite of the uprising, the scenario for NATO's Partnership for Peace military exercises, which are planned for Georgia from 6 May to 1 June, will not change.
"There have been no changes made in the program for holding the NATO exercises in Georgia. These exercises will take place according to the previously approved plan," the Defense Ministry stated.
It is anticipated that 1100soldiers from 19 countries of the alliance and its partners will participate in the exercises, which are divided up into staff and field exercises.
Russia has called the exercises a "frank provocation that could have negative consequences," inasmuch as only last year Georgia unleashed military actions against South Ossetia.
Deja Vu
The little town of Mukhrovanihas surfaced before in the history of military uprisings in Georgia. In May 2001, about 400 soldiers in a National Guard battalion refused to obey the orders of the command and redeployed without permission to the Mukhrovani area. There they occupied the territory of deployment of the Georgian MVD's interior forces. Security structures viewed the incident as an attempt at a state coup.
Later it turned out that theofficers were demanding that the many months of back pay owed them be paid, that conditions of service be improved, and that medical and living problems be solved. The situation was resolved by talks with the command of the National Guard battalion, which were held by Georgia's president at the time, Eduard Shevardnadze, personally. An agreement was reached that the battalion would return to its assigned deployment. Shevardnadze also gave guarantees tha tcriminal proceedings would not be instigated against the mutineers.