DUSHANBE, August 27, 2008, Asia-Plus — Recognition of the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is another link in a chain of mistakes made by the Russian political leadership over the past two weeks, Saymuddin Doustov, founder of the Dushanbe independent weekly
Nigoh
(View) and head of the NGO INDEM (Information for Democracy Development), said in an interview with Asia-Plus today.
According to him, nobody has the right to claim that Saakashvili’s operation against Tskhinvali is the punitive one; “however, even this fact does give Russia the right to become one of parties of the conflict in such an important region as Caucasus.”
“Russia’s decision to introduce tough measures against Georgian authorities’ actions and thereby participating in war is erroneous and does not meet national interest of Russia itself,” said Doustov. “Recognition of the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions will not only hurt Russia’s prestige on international arena but also lead to serious economic consequences, including slowdown of economic growth, you know.”
He stressed that ethnoseparatism in the territory of the former Russian empire and then the USSR had always been not the least of the factors in the Russian policy. “They have given rise to many of these conflicts by themselves, and finally, they have got Russia into trouble,” Doustov said.
On the further development of events and reaction of the CIS states, he said, “Each of the former Soviet republics now has its own Chechnya, which will be certainly used by some Western forces.”
“In Tajikistan, there are also preconditions for ethnic conflict that may turn into the next headache for Russia in the Central Asian region,” Doustov said.
