Russian military intelligence believes Georgia might again attack South Ossetia, the pro-Moscow region over which the two countries fought a war last year, a powerful spy chief said.

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee advisor Aage Borchgrevink is currently in Tblisi to investigate alleged occurences of war crimes and crimes against humanity during and after the armed conflict in August. According to a statement published in Tblisi today by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in cooperation with three other human rights organisations, the investigation has concluded that ethnic cleansing continues in the de-facto border region between Georgia and South Ossetia. "The Human rights monitors found evidence of the burning of houses, attacks on civilians and forced displacement of the Georgian population as late as Friday 17 October. There is still fear and tension in the conflict zone. The Russian Federation effectively controls South Ossetian territory and is responsible for maintaining security and allowing the displaced population to return and to investigate numerous allegations of crimes committed in the areas that have been and continue to be effectively under Russian control during and after the armed conflict in August, irrespective of who actually committed them. The Georgian government, on the other hand, is responsible for providing security to the population in the areas it controls, including in the de facto border regions, and for investigating the numerous allegations of crimes committed during and after the armed conflict, irrespective of who actually committed them", Aage Borchgrevink says in the statement.

On October 30th, Russia’s Permanent Representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, gave an interview to Ekho Moskvy Radio, in which he severely criticized America’s Georgia policy. Quoted by most of Russia’s news agencies, Rogozin said: “No one has abandoned the idea to use Georgia as a counterbalance to Russia…[Georgia is] a toothache or a headache for us in the Caucasus; as far as we are concerned, these attempts will continue.”

Fot. Dmitri Rogozin

by Giorgi Kvelashvili The Jamestown Foundation
For the full text of this article see the Jamestown Eurasian Daily Monitor.