Russian Peacekeepers

Georgian leader Eduard A. Shevardnadze, his army disintegrating along with his country, asked Russia on Monday for a peacekeeping force to help stave off an armed rebellion that threatens to topple him. Shevardnadze sent his prime minister to Moscow a day after rebels loyal to a former president seized the western city of Samtredia and severed the last rail link between the capital, Tbilisi, and Georgia's Black Sea coast.

The Russian parliament Monday called upon President Dmitry Medvedev to recognize the independence of two breakaway Georgian republics, a gambit that promises to further inflame tensions between Russia and the United States. Lawmakers in both houses of parliament voted unanimously for the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where a 2-decade-old rebellion ballooned this month into a bloody struggle between Russia and U.S.-backed Georgia. Recognition of the rebel republics as independent countries would amount to an attempt on the part of Moscow to redraw the borders of the former Soviet Union.

Hundreds of Bosnian Serbs cheered the arrival of 400 Russian peacekeepers Sunday, lining the streets of the rebel stronghold of Pale and offering gifts of food and slivovitz, a local brandy distilled from plums. The Russians were redeployed from peacekeeping duty in Croatia as part of an agreement brokered by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vitaly Churkin, the Kremlin's special envoy on the Balkan crisis.

Russian flags waved and Russian music was performed at a patriotic concert Thursday in this war-torn city, the capital of Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia, as Moscow and its loyalists tightened their grip on territory that was the focus of clashes this month. In front of a badly damaged government building, a Russian orchestra performed pieces by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich as 1,000 or so residents held up candles and the flags of Russia and South Ossetia, the catalyst in this month's conflict between Russia and Georgia.

Russian peacekeepers guarding the fragile truce between Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia came under intense attack in an overnight gun battle, Russian commander Alexander Yevteyev said. Yevteyev said the peacekeepers returned fire and the gun battle died down. Abkhazia alleges that Georgia is planning to attack it. Georgia says it will use force only as a last resort.

Four Russian peacekeepers taken prisoner by an unknown group in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia were freed in exchange for two Georgians detained earlier by Russian forces. The three officers and one soldier had been abducted from their post near Abkhazia's border with Georgia's government-controlled territory Monday evening, Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Paata Gomelauri said.

The capture of the three servicemen by Serbian forces (April 1) is going to go down as one of the most mortifying and outrageously stupid events in U.S. history. Given our country's humiliating and painful experience with hostages and POW scenarios, why would we allow NATO to position a handful of our young men along the border of a country that is being overrun by a bloodthirsty, genocidal army? I can't be the only person who knew that taking hostages by these maniacs was the most obvious move they could make to influence public opinion in the West.

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 an escalating crackdown on corruption in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, police using roadblocks and helicopters engaged in shootouts Wednesday with alleged smugglers. Authorities also said former President Eduard A. Shevardnadze might stand trial for corruption. "Of course the personal safety of President Shevardnadze is guaranteed, but no one is above the law," Georgian Interior Minister Georgy Baramidze said in a telephone interview from Tbilisi, the capital.

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.

The Russian military said Monday that it had begun pulling back troops that had swarmed into the nation of Georgia last week. But U.S. and Georgian officials and news reports indicated that, at least initially, little had changed on the ground. Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of Russia's general staff, told reporters at a regular briefing here that Russian forces had started the process of leaving Georgia proper as part of a cease-fire signed in recent days by the two nations' presidents.

The Kremlin said Sunday that Russia's military would begin withdrawing its forces from Georgia today, though it was not immediately clear how far or how fast the troops would move. Germany's leader, meanwhile, voiced strong support for this former Soviet republic's desire to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a goal that has fed Moscow's anger toward Georgia and the West. The Kremlin statement followed repeated U.S. and European calls for Russia to honor a cease-fire agreement it signed Saturday and pull troops out of Georgia proper.

In an escalating crackdown on corruption in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, police using roadblocks and helicopters engaged in shootouts Wednesday with alleged smugglers. Authorities also said former President Eduard A. Shevardnadze might stand trial for corruption. "Of course the personal safety of President Shevardnadze is guaranteed, but no one is above the law," Georgian Interior Minister Georgy Baramidze said in a telephone interview from Tbilisi, the capital.

Russian peacekeepers guarding the fragile truce between Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia came under intense attack in an overnight gun battle, Russian commander Alexander Yevteyev said. Yevteyev said the peacekeepers returned fire and the gun battle died down. Abkhazia alleges that Georgia is planning to attack it. Georgia says it will use force only as a last resort.

Four Russian peacekeepers taken prisoner by an unknown group in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia were freed in exchange for two Georgians detained earlier by Russian forces. The three officers and one soldier had been abducted from their post near Abkhazia's border with Georgia's government-controlled territory Monday evening, Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Paata Gomelauri said.

The capture of the three servicemen by Serbian forces (April 1) is going to go down as one of the most mortifying and outrageously stupid events in U.S. history. Given our country's humiliating and painful experience with hostages and POW scenarios, why would we allow NATO to position a handful of our young men along the border of a country that is being overrun by a bloodthirsty, genocidal army? I can't be the only person who knew that taking hostages by these maniacs was the most obvious move they could make to influence public opinion in the West.

The Russian parliament Monday called upon President Dmitry Medvedev to recognize the independence of two breakaway Georgian republics, a gambit that promises to further inflame tensions between Russia and the United States. Lawmakers in both houses of parliament voted unanimously for the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where a 2-decade-old rebellion ballooned this month into a bloody struggle between Russia and U.S.-backed Georgia. Recognition of the rebel republics as independent countries would amount to an attempt on the part of Moscow to redraw the borders of the former Soviet Union.

Russian flags waved and Russian music was performed at a patriotic concert Thursday in this war-torn city, the capital of Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia, as Moscow and its loyalists tightened their grip on territory that was the focus of clashes this month. In front of a badly damaged government building, a Russian orchestra performed pieces by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich as 1,000 or so residents held up candles and the flags of Russia and South Ossetia, the catalyst in this month's conflict between Russia and Georgia.

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.