Fallout from the announcement of U.S. plans to send troops to train military forces in Georgia took shape Thursday with a senior State Duma deputy saying the lower house may ask the government to recognize the independence of two separatist Georgian regions.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Duma's foreign affairs committee and a noted hawk, said he was worried about U.S. intentions to help combat terrorists in Georgia's lawless Pankisi Gorge. In response, his committee would conduct hearings Tuesday on recognizing the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, he said in televised statements.
The move "would confirm the fact that there are state entities in Georgia that are independent from Tbilisi and the fact of the collapse of Georgian statehood," Rogozin said on ORT television.
The United States says the Joint Chiefs of Staff is close to a decision to send up to 200 U.S. special forces troops to train the Georgian military to fight terrorists said to be connected to al-Qaida. The U.S. troops would not be allowed to take part in combat operations except in self-defense.
FSB director Nikolai Patrushev, meanwhile, said Thursday that reports that the United States and Russia had agreed to divide their spheres of influence between the two separatist regions and the Pankisi Gorge, respectively, were unfounded.
Georgian legislators blasted Rogozin's statements, saying they exposed an "imperialist" tendency. "Russia forgets we're a sovereign country," said parliament member Yelena Tevdorazde, head of the human rights committee, in statements aired on NTV television.
Former parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania called the move to discuss Abkhaz and South Ossetian independence as "unprecedented blackmail," Interfax reported. Zhvania called on deputies to file a complaint with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe.
Abkhaz leaders welcomed the overtures from Moscow, saying they wanted Russia to guarantee their independence, possibly through some kind of more formal ties.
While some Moscow officials responded by saying a U.S. military presence in Georgia would help Russia's security, Rogozin was among those who reacted strongly against the prospect of U.S. soldiers near Russia's border in a region Moscow sees as its sphere of influence.
If the Duma does issue a call to recognize Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence, the measure would be nonbinding.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell meanwhile reiterated to Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in a telephone conversation Wednesday that U.S. troops would not take part in fighting.
"Direct involvement of the American military in fighting terrorism on the territory of Georgia might complicate the situation in the region even more," Ivanov said he had told Powell, Interfax reported.
As the rhetoric between Tbilisi and Moscow was ratcheted up, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze was due to meet with President Vladimir Putin on Friday on the sidelines of a CIS summit in Kazakhstan.
The arrival of U.S. troops in Georgia "would help strengthen Georgia's borders and strengthen the country's sovereignty," Shevardnadze said Thursday in statements broadcast on ORT.
He added that "attempts to improve relations with Russia have come to little."
Tbilisi has long accused Moscow of aiding separatists in the Black Sea region of Abkhazia, where rebels sparked a civil war in 1992 and stopped the advancement of government forces the following year.
Russia sent peacekeepers to the region to enforce a truce -- a move many Georgians say was aimed at undermining Georgian sovereignty while increasing Moscow's influence in the Caucasus.
Georgian State Security Minister Valery Khaburdzaniya on Thursday lashed out against Abkhaz separatists, saying the region poses a danger to the West and that five Afghans recently deported from Georgia were trying to reach Europe through Abkhazia, The Associated Press reported.
Abkhaz leaders denied the allegations, reiterating their own accusations that Georgian military and security officials helped Chechen rebels cross Georgian territory and enter Abkhazia last fall, AP reported.
As the United States considers its plan to send troops to Georgia, U.S. military experts on Thursday arrived in Armenia, another Caucasus country, to discuss military cooperation.
"The military experts have to identify what Armenia needs in the sphere of military cooperation and what the exact forms of this cooperation will be," said Eric von Tersch, a military attache in the U.S. Embassy, AP reported.
The United States earlier this year agreed to give cash-strapped Armenia $4 million in military aid.
The U.S. ambassador in neighboring Azerbaijan, Ross Wilson, said on Thursday that a U.S. military delegation would visit Baku next month to discuss continued military cooperation in the country, Interfax reported.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Duma's foreign affairs committee and a noted hawk, said he was worried about U.S. intentions to help combat terrorists in Georgia's lawless Pankisi Gorge. In response, his committee would conduct hearings Tuesday on recognizing the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, he said in televised statements.
The move "would confirm the fact that there are state entities in Georgia that are independent from Tbilisi and the fact of the collapse of Georgian statehood," Rogozin said on ORT television.
The United States says the Joint Chiefs of Staff is close to a decision to send up to 200 U.S. special forces troops to train the Georgian military to fight terrorists said to be connected to al-Qaida. The U.S. troops would not be allowed to take part in combat operations except in self-defense.
FSB director Nikolai Patrushev, meanwhile, said Thursday that reports that the United States and Russia had agreed to divide their spheres of influence between the two separatist regions and the Pankisi Gorge, respectively, were unfounded.
Georgian legislators blasted Rogozin's statements, saying they exposed an "imperialist" tendency. "Russia forgets we're a sovereign country," said parliament member Yelena Tevdorazde, head of the human rights committee, in statements aired on NTV television.
Former parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania called the move to discuss Abkhaz and South Ossetian independence as "unprecedented blackmail," Interfax reported. Zhvania called on deputies to file a complaint with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe.
Abkhaz leaders welcomed the overtures from Moscow, saying they wanted Russia to guarantee their independence, possibly through some kind of more formal ties.
While some Moscow officials responded by saying a U.S. military presence in Georgia would help Russia's security, Rogozin was among those who reacted strongly against the prospect of U.S. soldiers near Russia's border in a region Moscow sees as its sphere of influence.
If the Duma does issue a call to recognize Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence, the measure would be nonbinding.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell meanwhile reiterated to Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in a telephone conversation Wednesday that U.S. troops would not take part in fighting.
"Direct involvement of the American military in fighting terrorism on the territory of Georgia might complicate the situation in the region even more," Ivanov said he had told Powell, Interfax reported.
As the rhetoric between Tbilisi and Moscow was ratcheted up, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze was due to meet with President Vladimir Putin on Friday on the sidelines of a CIS summit in Kazakhstan.
The arrival of U.S. troops in Georgia "would help strengthen Georgia's borders and strengthen the country's sovereignty," Shevardnadze said Thursday in statements broadcast on ORT.
He added that "attempts to improve relations with Russia have come to little."
Tbilisi has long accused Moscow of aiding separatists in the Black Sea region of Abkhazia, where rebels sparked a civil war in 1992 and stopped the advancement of government forces the following year.
Russia sent peacekeepers to the region to enforce a truce -- a move many Georgians say was aimed at undermining Georgian sovereignty while increasing Moscow's influence in the Caucasus.
Georgian State Security Minister Valery Khaburdzaniya on Thursday lashed out against Abkhaz separatists, saying the region poses a danger to the West and that five Afghans recently deported from Georgia were trying to reach Europe through Abkhazia, The Associated Press reported.
Abkhaz leaders denied the allegations, reiterating their own accusations that Georgian military and security officials helped Chechen rebels cross Georgian territory and enter Abkhazia last fall, AP reported.
As the United States considers its plan to send troops to Georgia, U.S. military experts on Thursday arrived in Armenia, another Caucasus country, to discuss military cooperation.
"The military experts have to identify what Armenia needs in the sphere of military cooperation and what the exact forms of this cooperation will be," said Eric von Tersch, a military attache in the U.S. Embassy, AP reported.
The United States earlier this year agreed to give cash-strapped Armenia $4 million in military aid.
The U.S. ambassador in neighboring Azerbaijan, Ross Wilson, said on Thursday that a U.S. military delegation would visit Baku next month to discuss continued military cooperation in the country, Interfax reported.
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