While French President Jacques Chirac makes the first high-profile official visit to to Armenia by a Western leader, all eyes instead appear to be on Georgia where confrontation with Russia once again threatens stability in the South Caucasus. Eurasianet has more.

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili announced late on September 27 that the ministry’s counterintelligence unit had uncovered a spy network run by Russian military intelligence, known as GRU (known as the GRU or Central Intelligence Department), that had allegedly acted on Georgian territory under the cover of the Russian military headquarters for the Trans-Caucasus. The detained are accused of obtaining information regarding Georgia’s defensive capabilities, strategies for integration with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Georgian ports, railways, and opposition political parties, among other targets.

According to Merabishvili, the network was headed by Russian military intelligence Col. Anatoly Sinitsin, who the Georgian government suspects of being connected to the February 2005 bomb blast in Gori, not far from the border with the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which killed three people. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive.]

Two of the arrested Russian military personnel were detained in Tbilisi, two others in the Black Sea port town of Batumi, Merabishvili said. The minister stated that all four are high-ranking GRU officers.

Efforts continue to secure a fifth Russian military officer – identified as GRU Lt. Col. Konstantin Pichugin – who Merabishvili claims is hiding in the headquarters of the Trans-Caucasus Forces. The entrance to the building has been blocked by Georgian military police vehicles and is surrounded by unarmed city policemen. Georgian media have reported, however, that the number of police surrounding the building has decreased. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have demanded that Georgia immediately release the four military officers.

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Following reports that Georgian police had surrounded a Russian Military HQ in Tbilisi, the BBC now has some breaking news.

Four Russian officers detained in Georgia have been charged with spying, officials in Tbilisi have said.

They were expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing later on Friday, a Georgian interior ministry spokesman said.

Russia is recalling its ambassador to Tbilisi after Wednesday’s arrests and is beginning a partial evacuation of its personnel from Georgia.

Georgia’s president described Moscow’s reaction to the arrests as “hysteria”.

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Ditsmayri, Kashatagh Region, Armenian-controlled Republic of Azerbaijan — Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / IWPR

Following on from my recent return visit to Lachin, the strategic main artery connecting Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh, and an article for Eurasianet on depopulation in the disputed Kashatagh region, the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) has published another. Again, it’s on attempts to populate the region with Armenian settlers and the recent exodus of those that did move to the territory with the promise of new homes, land, livestock and social benefits.

The local residents of Suarassy seem oblivious to the hidden danger as they herd cattle down a road known to have been mined during the Armenian-Azerbaijani war of the early Nineties. Despite the mangled military lorry rusting in a ditch to one side, none of their cows have so far detonated seven anti-tank mines still believed to be buried underneath, so they reckon the road is safe.

Less than a metre away is forest and grazing land laden with at least 900 anti-personnel landmines. Yura Sharamanian, operations officer for the HALO Trust, compares the minefield to Cambodia and says that the British de-mining charity considers Lachin to be the most mine-infested region in Karabakh and surrounding regions, which were fought over during the 1991-4 war.

Although considered by the international community to be occupied Azerbaijani land, this territory is now marked on Armenian maps as Kashatagh. Also including the formerly Azerbaijani regions of Kubatly and Zangelan as well as Lachin itself, Kashatagh stretches down to the Iranian border in the south.

This strip of land between Armenia and Karabakh is one of the key points in dispute in the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. And it is also home to a few thousand hardy Armenian settlers who have moved here since the 1994 ceasefire.

However, it is not just the danger of landmines that threatens the existence of new settlements in the Kashatagh region. Although a 2005 census put the official population of Kashatagh at 9,800 Armenians, with 2,200 residing in the town of Lachin, the actual figure is now believed to be around fifty per cent less.

The full article accompanied by photographs is here. The article is one of three from an IWPR special on Karabakh. The other two are here and here. Some of my photographs from Lachin and Kashatagh 2000-03 can be found online here.

The BBC reports that Georgian Police have surrounded the Headquarters of the Russian Army in Tbilisi and are not allowing anyone to enter or leave. The development comes after Russia refused to handover one of its officers believed to be spying in Armenia’s northern neighbour. Five alleged spies have already been arrested.

In another development, the Russian embassy in Tbilisi on Thursday stopped receiving documents for issuing visas to Georgian nationals.

Wednesday’s arrests come as the already tense relations between Georgia and Russia have deteriorated over the past week, the BBC’s Matthew Collin in Tbilisi says.

Georgia has accused Russia of actively trying undermine its government by backing separatists in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, our correspondent says.

Georgia also says Moscow is waging economic war against the country through embargoes on imports of Georgian products.

Russia has denied the allegations.

After Nessuna recently deleted her blog I think I have some good news — she says she’ll again write for mine from time to time. I also hope to have another young blogger starting who’s especially interesting because she was born in Armenia and left the country when she was 10. Fourteen years later she’s returned to live and work here for a year although I suspect she might stay longer.

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Shamiram, Aragotsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

As a matter of interest, and especially for me as I recently returned from Tbilisi where I made contact with the Yezidi there, a film crew from from Georgia was recording the event. There was also a rather nice Yezidi girl, originally from Armenia, who’s researching her community for a PhD at Tbilisi State University as well as a Yezidi Pir from Georgia.

ONNIK KRIKORIAN: You’re a Yezidi Pir from Tbilisi. Where you born in Georgia?

PIR DIMA: Yes.

OK: Is this your first time in Armenia or do you come many times?

PD: It’s not my first time.

OK: Is your family originally from Armenia?

PD: They all came from Turkey, and some moved to Armenia while others moved to Georgia.

OK: Why are you here today?

PD: It’s not just about this festival. I am travelling with a film crew [from Georgia] and I came with them.

OK: I was in Tbilisi last week and there appears to be no problem there with regards to the question of Kurdish identity there. However, there’s a division in Armenia. What’s your opinion of this?

PD: There are problems in Georgia as well, but we [the Kurds] are one nation. It’s just that our religion is different. However, the problem is nowhere near as serious as it is in Armenia. On the other hand, you have to realize that the Yezidi community in Georgia is smaller than in Armenia.

It’s also not the fault of Yezidi here. Sometimes they don’t want people [Armenians] to know their nationality [Kurdish], but it’s not their fault. Also, there’s the problem that Moslem Kurds have killed Yezidis [as well as Armenians] so there’s that reason as well.

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Shamiram, Aragotsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

Today saw this year’s annual festival in the Yezidi village of Shamiram. This was the third time I’ve attended the event and has become somewhat of a photographic “ritual” for me. Interesting to note that Shamiram still has no water and residents have to purchase and truck it in from neighboring villages.

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Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

Once dubbed the Silicon Valley of the former Soviet Union — and even though the IT sector is one area of the economy registering genuine growth — ArmInfo reports that the use of computer technology in Armenia is a matter of concern.

The level of IT use by society in Armenia is one of the lowest in the world and is comparable to the indices of Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe, says the executive director of the Union of IT companies Karen Vardanyan.

[…]

In order to improve the situation Vardanyan suggests equipping schools with relatively cheap portable computers - Armenia will need some $15-20 mln for buying each such computer for $100.

With some opposition activists believing that the 2008 Presidential Elections will see Robert Kocharian pass on power to his trusted lieutenant, Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, while he takes over the position of Prime Minister, Panorama.am has a funny news item on what it sees as a possible freudian slip and forecast for the future.

No one at the second international Armagroforum misheard Minister of Agriculture Davit Lockyan who said at the opening ceremony, “President of Armenia, Robert Sargsyan, has an address to the conference.” Participants could not help their laughs at the hall.

Soon after Karen Tchshmaritsyan, minister of trade and economic development, made another mistake in his speech at Panarmenian EXPO-2006 saying, “The honor to open the exhibition is given to Robert Kocharyan, Armenian prime minister.” The president took the mistake with humor and smiled.

Of course, no one is guaranteed against such mistakes but psychologists believe that mistakes made by chance have deep subconscious roots. We can say that one of our ministers envisages someone with the surname Sargsyan as a president (most probably Serzh Sargsyan) while the other minister thinks that Robert Kocharyan may become a prime minister and administer the government. Such developments are variously scenarioed by the opposition. /Panorama.am/

Not sure if I buy into that, but funny — even if many here are not laughing.

Zarchka has a wonderful post on contemporary Armenian music and the way in which honours are dished out by the authorities. Often these are linked to how well individuals — especially singers — serve the Government in pushing out propaganda during elections and referendums. Somewhat alarmingly, honours were recently handed out to “journalists” for the same reason.

President Robert Kocharian issued on Friday decrees giving official titles and top state awards to a dozen journalists from TV stations, news agencies and newspapers controlled by or loyal to his administration.

A statement by the presidential press service said five of them will become the first citizens of independent Armenia to bear the title of “honored journalist.” Among them is Kocharian’s personal photographer and the editors of the government-controlled “Hayastani Hanrapetutyun” newspaper and the private daily “Hayots Ashkhar.” The latter has staunchly backed the Armenian leader and blasted his political opponents throughout his eight-year-rule.

This time round, however, it was the turn of Armenia’s singers. With no real internal music market to earn a living from, every singer is reliant on direct or indirect sponsorship from officials or businessmen linked to the authorities. I’m especially pleased to see Nune Yesayan and Hayko mentioned in Zara’s excellent post.

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