Abkhazia

Eric Margolis' Nov. 28 commentary proclaims that "Russia Checkmated Its New Best Friend," that is, U.S. global interests and, specifically, those in Central Asia. Margolis claims that Russia has presently achieved victory in Afghanistan through its proxy, the Northern Alliance, resulting in the U.S. and Pakistan being cut off from Central Asian resources, specifically the oil-rich Caspian Basin. These conclusions are based on unsupportable and unreasonable assumptions. The false premise is that Russian interests are diametrically opposite to those of the U.S. both globally and regionally.

Officials in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia said they have regained control over a valley that had been infiltrated by Georgian and Chechen fighters, and a top leader said his forces were prepared to carry out preventive strikes beyond Abkhazia's borders. Anri Dzhergeniya, prime minister of the self-declared government of Abkhazia, said the region had turned to Russia with a request to form a closer alliance--another step away from Georgia. Russian President Vladimir V.

The breakaway region of Abkhazia said Thursday that it launched airstrikes to thwart what it called invasions of its territory, hours after Georgia said it was sending troops toward the tense Black Sea region. Abkhazian leader Vladislav Ardzinba appealed to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin to prevent war, asking the Russian leadership "to thwart Georgia's policy of state terrorism" and calling for international sanctions against Georgia, Ardzinba spokesman Ruslan Khosyg said.

After negotiations with Georgian officials, kidnappers on Friday released the last three of seven U.N. workers taken hostage in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region, a government spokeswoman said. Interior Minister Kakha Targamadze said the three were freed after officials guaranteed the abductors that special forces would not be sent to capture them. Defense Minister David Tevzadze and presidential envoy Iveri Chelidze were involved in the negotiations. The six U.N.

Zinaida Mikvabia comes often to the little cemetery in the city center with her broom made of twigs to sweep the graves of her grandson and nephew, two "Heroes of Abkhazia." Both died fighting in the tiny Georgian republic's 1993 war for independence. Nearby, ruined hulks of buildings overgrown with weeds and trees line streets nearly empty of people and cars.

Ekaterina Dzadzua wrung her hands and wept when she saw the black smoke billowing from yet another house in her little village across the river. "Look at what they're doing! We've left. Why are they burning our houses and ruining our lands, and why is no one helping us?" the pensioner asked the small crowd that had gathered to watch the scene. Another explosion, followed by automatic gunfire, drove the Georgian villagers back into the safety of the trees.

The fragile calm of recent years is shattered: Russia's volatile southern neighbors, which have been recovering from wars that devastated them after the Soviet collapse in 1991, are in uproar again over the latest failed assassination attempt against the region's grand old man, Georgian President Eduard A. Shevardnadze. The reason for Tuesday's disquiet is the fear among political leaders across the former Soviet south that Russia, the region's one big power, may have been behind the attack.

The deputy prime minister of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia was shot to death in his home, news agencies reported. They said the attackers opened fire on Yuri Voronov, 47, a Parliament deputy and independence advocate, Monday night. Police detained two suspects Tuesday. The Itar-Tass news agency said the suspects are not Abkhazian. Sokrat Dzhinzholiya, Speaker of Abkhazia's Parliament, charged that the killing was political.

For the first time since the Soviet Union's breakup, Russian troops have taken up a new peacekeeping mission in the former empire, deploying 3,000 strong in the disputed territory of Abkhazia. Under auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and with tacit U.N. approval, Russian peacekeepers will patrol a 32-mile-wide security zone along the Inguri River, the natural border between Georgia and the breakaway republic of Abkhazia.

In a move viewed with some apprehension in the West, Russia announced Friday that it will send 4,000 peacekeeping troops to neighboring Georgia to prevent a resurgence of ethnic warfare in Georgia's secessionist Abkhazia province. Russian Defense Minister Pavel S. Grachev made the announcement in Georgia after gaining approval from the leaders of Georgia and Abkhazia, who had signed a partial peace accord May 14.