Georgia, Russia move to open border, resume direct flights

It’s still unclear when this will happen or what the exact conditions of the arrangement will be. The only thing that is certain is that both sides have decided it is mutually beneficial to reopen the Zemo Larsi border checkpoint and resume direct flights between the two countries, and therefore they will likely make the move official relatively soon (I’ve been hearing the 25th will be the magic date).

The devil will be in the details. Whether or not Russia will allow Georgian products to be sold in Russia after a three-year embargo is the biggest issue at stake.

Although Russian President Dmitri Medvedev indicated that Georgian products should be allowed to ”legally” enter Russia, this distinction seems to allow Russia to maintain bans on Georgian goods, which were originally embargoed citing impurities and counterfeiting concerns. Previously, Russia was Georgia’s biggest trading partner.

Below is my article in the Washington Times on the various issues surrounding the border reopening. Why it has more to do with supplies to Armenia than peace with Georgia, and why many Georgians fear it could expand the one of the nation’s long-standing ethnic conflicts.

TBILISI | Georgia and Russia appear about to reopen their border and end a four-year trade blockade – a step welcomed by many in the region, but one that some fear could lead to new ethnic clashes nearly a year and a half after a brief war.

Russia cut off all transit with Georgia in 2006, amid souring relations between the Kremlin and Georgia’s pro-Western government. On Dec. 10, however, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced in Moscow that he saw “no obstacles” to reopening the Zemo Larsi checkpoint and resuming direct flights between the two countries. The next day, a spokesman for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili welcomed the move.

The checkpoint is the only legal land passage through the Caucasus Mountains. Before the embargo, it coursed with trade and transit. But, in the ethnically mixed region that surrounds the checkpoint, fears have spread that reopening the border could tip demographic balances and expand one of the area’s long-standing ethnic conflicts.

The Zemo Larsi checkpoint lies on the highway from Tbilisi to Vladikavkaz, capital of Russia’s Autonomous Republic of North Ossetia. On the Georgian side, much of the highway runs just a few miles from the de facto border of South Ossetia. The breakaway former Georgian enclave first declared independence in 1992 and voted for independence in a referendum in 2006, but remained unrecognized as such until the August 2008 war. Since then, Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have recognized South Ossetia.

To read the rest of the article click here.