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Georgia says soldiers rebel, accuses Russia
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-05 20:28 TBILISI– Georgia sent tanks to a military base near the capital Tbilisi where it said a rebellion was under way on Tuesday and accused Russia of financing a coup.
There was no official reaction from Moscow and it was unclear how many were involved in the uprising at the Mukhrovani base, home to several hundred soldiers, or what its aims were.
Russia's Interfax news agency said Mukhrovani base commander Mamuka Gorgishvili had made a statement criticizing Saakashvili's government but pledging not to use force. The president said the rebellion at the base was "a serious threat" but an isolated one. He called on Russia to "refrain from provocations." A Reuters reporter saw around 30 tanks and armored personnel carriers moving along the main road from Tbilisi toward the base. Police would not allow correspondents to get near the facility. Saakashvili has been under pressure domestically since losing a brief war against neighboring Russia last August over the rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "One cannot look calmly at the process of the country falling apart, at the ongoing confrontation. But our tank unit will not resort to any aggressive actions," the agency quoted Gorgishvili as saying. Defense Minister David Sikharulidze said the plotters wanted to undermine NATO exercises beginning this week in Georgia. Russia has criticized these as mistaken. "The main aim of this uprising was to disrupt the NATO military exercises," Defense Minister David Sikharulidze said. "We are in negotiations with the soldiers at the Mukhrovani base and I hope this uprising will end soon." Sikharulidze said the commanders of the military base 19 km (12 miles) from the capital had been dismissed and the soldiers ordered to stay in barracks. He told Rustavi 2 television that the rebellion was also "an attempt at a military coup." The news from Georgia had little impact on markets. Georgian assets are little traded and investors have been skeptical in the past of government statements until facts were clear. The Interior Ministry alleged Russian involvement and said one person had been arrested. "They (the plotters) were receiving money from Russia," ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told a news conference. "It seems it was coordinated with Russia." Russia crushed in a matter of days a Georgian assault on the rebel pro-Moscow region of South Ossetia in August last year, drawing criticism from the West for a "disproportionate" response. The war slammed the brakes on Georgia's bid for membership of NATO, which the Kremlin fiercely opposes as an encroachment on its traditional sphere of influence. It also piled pressure on Saakashvili. Protesters taking part in demonstrations over the past month are demanding he resign over his record on democracy and the lost war. The opposition announced on Monday it would broaden street blockades beyond central Tbilisi, threatening to close the main east-west highway and entrances to the capital. |
