Putin Accuses Georgia of Blackmail

By JUDITH INGRAM

The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; 4:34 PM
 
MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin on
Wednesday accused Georgia of blackmail and lawmakers threatened more
sanctions as Moscow police went after businesses allegedly tied to
Georgian organized crime and cracked down on illegal migrants from the
Caucasus Mountains nation.
The Kremlin's fury over last week's
arrest of four Russian officers in Georgia, which sparked Moscow's
suspension of air, sea, road, rail and postal links Tuesday, showed no
sign of ebbing despite their release.
The arrests appear to have been the last straw for the Russian
leadership, which is clearly alarmed over Tbilisi's goal of NATO
membership and the growing U.S. influence in its former Soviet backyard.
Summoning
parliamentary faction leaders to the Kremlin, Putin thanked them for
their show of unity on Moscow's tough approach before delivering his
verdict.
"I would not counsel anyone to talk to Russia in the language of provocations and blackmail," he told the four
legislators _ Boris Gryzlov, the head of the dominant pro-Kremlin
United Russia party, and the heads of the State Duma's three
nationalist parties.
The lawmakers then returned to the
legislature to lead passage of a statement on the "anti-Russian and
antidemocratic policy of the Georgian authorities," which parroted
previous Kremlin statements and signaled "harsher measures" in case of
further aggravation.
"Not all sanctions have been imposed," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Gryzlov as saying.
Possible
next steps include sharply restricting Russian energy shipments come
winter and prohibiting money transfers from Russia and Georgia.
The
latter could deal a huge blow to Georgia's struggling economy.
According to some estimates, over one-fifth of Georgia's 4.4 million
population work in Russia, and their families rely on the hundreds of
millions of dollars in annual remittances.
Police are already
targeting the large Georgian diaspora in Moscow with raids of
businesses and restaurants. On Tuesday and Wednesday, masked riot
police poured into two popular casinos run by Georgians in the Russian
capital, saying they had no authorization for their casino tables and
slot machines and claiming they were tied to Georgian organized crime.
They also raided a hotel and two restaurants run by Georgians, saying
they could be closed for legal violations.
"They should have gone
after the bandits a long time ago," said Marina, a hostess in a
Georgian restaurant in central Moscow who declined to give her last
name for fear of attracting police attention. "But they shouldn't have
waited until it was politically convenient to do so."
Police were
also stepping up their searches for illegal migrants from Georgia. At
Moscow's Dorogomilovsky market, police checked workers' documents and
arrested three Georgian women who had sold cheese, according to
vendors. The police had to let other Georgians remain because they had
documents proving they were officially recognized refugees from the
Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia.
The daily Kommersant quoted police officials as saying that 40
Georgian restaurants and shops in downtown Moscow would be raided in
the next few days.
Families in Georgia worried about their kin in Russia becoming caught up in the political dispute.
"I'm afraid my son will be
deported, that the insult from Georgia will reflect on him, because
Putin is a vengeful man," said Laura Chanturia, a 59-year-old
university teacher who said her son sent money home every month to
support her and her grandson.
Georgian officials, however, kept
up a nonchalant stance, with Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli trying to
reassure the nation that new sanctions from Russia would not inflict
significant economic damage.
"Russia has implemented sanctions before and we were able to stand our ground. We are standing our ground now," he said.
Alexander Chagunava, a 52-year-old electric engineer, said Georgians were taking the dispute in stride.
"There
was more panic when they introduced the ban on Georgian wine," he said,
referring to the Russian government's prohibition of wine imports last
spring for alleged health reasons.
Russia has also stopped granting entry visas to Georgian nationals.
Russia's
chilly relations with Georgia have worsened steadily since Saakashvili
came to power following the 2003 Rose Revolution, vowing to take the
country out of Russia's orbit, rein in the breakaway provinces of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and join NATO in 2008. Georgia accuses
Russia of backing the separatists, which Russia denies.