Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Georgia to put Russian 'spies' on trial (The Guardian)

Roba succosa. Tra John Le Carre' e L'Opera da Tre Soldi. La si potrebbe 
intitolare: "Quando chiudere il rubinetto non basta piu'"
Am.
Georgia to put Russian 'spies' on trial 
Michael Mainville in Moscow
Friday September 29, 2006
The Guardian 
Georgia officially charged four Russian military officers with espionage 
today as Tbilisi showed no signs of backing down in an escalating row 
with Moscow.
As Moscow began evacuating Russian officials from the Georgian capital, 
Georgia's interior ministry said the four Russian officers would be put 
on trial later in the day and a fifth had been released without charge.
Georgian police are surrounding Russia's military headquarters in 
Tbilisi demanding the handover of another suspect.
 Relations between the two ex-Soviet states have plummeted to a new low 
since the arrests of the Russian officers and a dozen of their alleged 
Georgian agents on Wednesday.
Georgia alleges the suspects were members of a "very dangerous" spy 
network that had gathered sensitive military information, organised an 
explosion that killed three police and was planning a "serious 
provocation" on Georgian soil.
Moscow has described the allegations as "wild and hysterical" and 
declared that it will use every means to free the officers. It has 
recalled its ambassador to Tbilisi, suspended issuing Russian visas to 
Georgian citizens and warned Russians not to travel to Georgia.
Russia urged the UN security council to take up the issue at a meeting 
on today. Russian newspapers reacted furiously to the dispute in today's 
morning editions. The daily Izvestia headlined its front-page story 
"Georgia provokes Russia to use force to release its military", while 
Kommersant reported that "Russia took measures against Georgia yesterday 
that usually precede military action".
A Russian Ilyushin cargo plane landed in Tbilisi this morning to pick up 
several hundred Russian officials and bring them home. A second plane 
was scheduled to arrive later in the day.
The Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, has denounced the 
evacuation as hysteria. "Russian personnel and their families face no 
threat here," he said.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has so far not commented publicly 
on the crisis. Relations between the two countries have been on a 
downward spiral since Mr Saakashvili came to power after the 2003 "rose 
revolution" pledging to boost ties with the west and join Nato. Tbilisi 
accuses Russia of backing opposition to Mr Saakashvili and supporting 
regimes in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, 
where hundreds of Russian peacekeepers are deployed.
A Georgian political analyst, Alexander Rondeli, said Georgia's actions 
this week reflected growing frustration with Russian interference. "The 
Georgian leadership has lost all patience with the constant pressure 
coming from Russia," he said. "I expect relations will get worse before 
they get better."
Adding further strain, officials in South Ossetia said today that masked 
Georgian officers detained and beat four Russian peacekeepers last 
night. Georgia dismissed the claim as "rubbish". The crisis is likely to 
dominate a meeting of Nato defence ministers with their Russian 
counterpart, Sergei Ivanov, in Slovenia today. Moscow reacted angrily to 
a Nato agreement to deepen cooperation with Georgia last week, calling 
the move a throwback to the cold war.

 intitolare: "Quando chiudere il rubinetto non basta piu'"
Difficile stabilire chi dei due dica la verità. Le autorità 
georgiane hanno mostrato prove audio e video che 
documenterebbero l'attività spionistica degli arrestati, che non 
ho visto. I russi dicono che sono fabbricate ad arte. 
Intendiamoci, solo un cretino potrebbe credere che migliaia di 
soldati russi (formalmente "peacekeepers", ma rotfl) in 
territorio georgiano non svolgano in alcun modo attività di 
intelligence. Però bisogna provarlo per bene. Non vorrei che 
Saakashvili stesse tirando troppo la corda, è sufficientemente 
fuori di testa per farlo. Di certo sta giocando sul filo del rasoio.
M.

 wrote:

Be', ho peccato per leggerezza. La crisi sta diventando maggiore, con 
spostamenti di truppe russe  e una riunione NATO dedicata al da farsi.
Se la NATO ha tirato troppo la corda geopoliticamente, c'e' anche da 
chiedersi perche' la maggior parte dei nuovi ingressi ritiene la propria 
indipendenza meglio protetta da essa che da Mosca.
Ritenere le ex repubbliche un affare interno russo ci porterebbe 
indietro al peggiore cinismo di Budapest '56. Ucraina, Bielorussia, 
Azerbaidjan e Moldavia e ora Georgia dimostrano che l'imperialismo russo 
se ne strafrega della democrazia: prima chiude i rubinetti, poi se non 
basta, mada le truppe.
Am.

 basta, mada le truppe.
Vedremo. E' certo comunque che Saakashvili potrebbe cercare un 
approccio più soft alla crisi. Se fosse ancora vivo l'ex primo 
ministro Zhvania, "incidentato" l'anno scorso con la scusa di 
una stufetta a gas difettosa, sarei più fiducioso.
M.