[A-List] Georgian Blockade, War Threat Disrupting Caspian Sea Oil Exports

[Rick Rozoff <r_rozoff@xxxxxxxxx>]

1) Georgia's Blockade Of Adjarian Capital Halts 2,000
Freight Cars With Petroleum Products
2) Batumi Port Blockade Disrupting Caspian Sea Oil
Exports
3) Georgia, Turkey Hold Joint Security Exercise
4) Use Of Force Against Adjaria Can Have Grave
Consequences For Georgia: Russian Ex-Foreign Minister
5) Georgian Defense Minister Inspects Armed Forces
6) Russian Expert, Deputy: Georgian Military Action
Against Adjaria Will Fail
7) War Of Words: Georgia Accuses 'Russian General' Of
Training Adjarian Armed Forces




1)
http://www.rosbaltnews.com/2004/03/17/66030.html

Rosbalt News (Russia)
March 17, 2004


Blockade of Adjaria Halts 2,000 Loaded Freight Cars at
Georgia Border


BAKU, March 17. Deliveries of Azerbaijani oil to
Georgia have been delayed by the blockade of Adjaria.
Shipments of kerosene to Batumi have been halted, and
shipments of diesel fuel are being diverted to Poti,
Rosbalt was told by the marketing department of the
State Oil Company of Azerbaijan. With the closing of
the Port of Batumi, the company plans to increase its
movement of petroleum products through Iran.

The company said alternative routes for its petroleum
products would have to be found if the blockade lasts
more than 10 days. Azerbaijan's State Railways were
reporting that, as of this morning, approximately
2,000 rail cars carrying petroleum products from
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenia were being held
at the Georgia border.
-------------------------------------------------------
2)
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040317/1/3iu4v.html

Agence France-Presse
March 17, 2004



Batumi port blockade disrupting Caspian Sea oil
exports


-"It is a catastrophe," said an executive with the
terminal's owner. He estimated the closure of the
terminal was costing oil exporters, shippers and the
terminal two million dollars (euros) a day.
-"I understand there are about 1,900 railway cars with
oil from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan stuck
on the Azerbaijan-Georgia border."


A political dispute that has left Georgia's Black Sea
port of Batumi under blockade is playing havoc with
oil exports from the Caspian Sea to world markets,
transport industry insiders told AFP Wednesday.

Batumi's Western-owned oil terminal loads nine million
tonnes of oil and oil products from Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan a year, but it has been
forced to halt operations because of the blockade.

"It is a catastrophe," said an executive with the
terminal's owner. He estimated the closure of the
terminal was costing oil exporters, shippers and the
terminal two million dollars (euros) a day.

Azerbaijan's state oil company said nearly 2,000
railway cisterns carrying Caspian oil and oil products
were backing up on sidings near the Azeri border with
Georgia, and hinted it could shift exports to Iran if
the blockade was not lifted soon.

Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili this week
ordered the sealing off of Batumi's port and the
closure of its border with Turkey to cargo traffic in
an attempt to bring local leader Aslan Abashidze to
heel.

The Georgian leadership accuses Abashidze of refusing
to recognize its authority over his semi-autonomous
region.

Oil shipments were the worst hit. There are three
pipelines shipping crude from the Caspian Sea to the
Black Sea, but large volumes are exported overland, by
rail across Azerbaijan and Georgia, and loaded onto
tankers at Batumi.

"The government have shut the port down so that pretty
much stops our operations," said the executive with
the oil terminal's owner, who did not want to be
identified. He added: "It is a shame... This is a
catastrophe."

An official with SOCAR, the Azeri state oil company,
said the blockade was playing havoc with deliveries of
oil and oil products.

"I understand there are about 1,900 railway cars with
oil from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan stuck
on the Azerbaijan-Georgia border" he said.

SOCAR had stopped shipping kerosene altogether, while
other shipments were being diverted to Poti, another
Georgian Black Sea port, and Iran's Neka terminal on
the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, the official
said.

He said that Caspian oil exporters may be forced to
abandon exports through Batumi altogether.

"This situation is making (the Batumi) route less
attractive," the official said. "Oil traders are
taking losses, the risks are increasing and it is
getting more expensive to charter tankers."

"If in 10 days the situation does not change we will
seek alternative routes to transport our oil."

The movement of non-oil cargo across Georgia -- a
major transit route between Europe and Asia -- was
also badly disrupted, freight companies said.

Under normal conditions, huge volumes of non-oil cargo
-- from bauxite to scrap metal to sugar -- also pass
through Adjara. More than half is transitting through
Georgia, bound for further afield.

A Tbilisi-based manager with a major western freight
company said the blockade on Adjara had left shippers
scrambling to find alternative routes.

Trucks trying to cross into Georgia from Turkey were
having to bypass Adjara, instead travelling by ferry
from the Turkish Black Sea port of Trabzon and
disembarking at Poti, the manager said.

But he said that was causing problems too. "We have
now got ships backed up at Poti. There is too much
cargo. It is starting to back up because there are
only so many berths and so many railway cars."

"Even if they resolve this dispute now, the back-log
will take a couple of weeks to clear," said the
freight company manager. "Let's hope they resolve it
soon."
-------------------------------------------------------
3)
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=4065106&startrow=21&date=2004-03-17&do_alert=0


Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
March 17, 2004


GEORGIA, TURKEY HOLD JOINT EXERCISE


TBILISI, March 17, 2004. (RIA Novosti) - Georgian and
Turkish law-enforcement agencies launched their joint
exercise on the Georgian-Turkish border today, what
with Georgia committing its border-control units.

The joint-exercise scenario calls for fighting
smugglers, organized crime and illegal migration more
effectively, reports the press center of Georgia's
border-control department.

According to the departmental spokesman, the current
exercise has nothing to do with events in Adzharia.
The joint Georgian-Turkish exercise, which was planned
some time before, isn't linked with Adzharian
developments in any way, the border-control
department's spokesman added.

This exercise is taking place in Georgia's Akhaltsikhi
district and in Turkey's Ardagan district, as well.
-------------------------------------------------------
4)
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=4066890&startrow=11&date=2004-03-17&do_alert=0


Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
March 17, 2004


IVANOV: USE OF FORCE FOR SETTLING ADZHARIA PROBLEM CAN
BE FRAUGHT WITH GRAVE CONSEQUENCES FOR GEORGIA


MOSCOW, March 17, 2004. (RIA Novosti) -- Use of force
for resolving the situation in Adzharia (Georgia's
autonomy) can be fraught with grave consequences for
Georgia. This cannot be allowed, Igor Ivanov,
secretary of the Russian Security Council, said at the
meeting in Moscow with Vano Merabishvili, secretary of
the National Security Council of Georgia.

The press service of the Russian Security Council says
that in the course of the meeting Igor Ivanov noted
that "Russia is for the political settlement of
differences between Tbilisi and Batumi and, for its
part, is ready to provide assistance in arranging a
direct dialogue and elaborating mutually acceptable
decisions within the framework of the territorial
integrity of Georgia." Mr. Ivanov and Mr. Merabishvili
have considered concrete steps towards the development
of Russo-Georgian relations in line with the
agreements reached by Russian President Vladimir Putin
and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili during the
recent talks in Moscow, the press service said.
------------------------------------------------------
5)
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=4066310&startrow=21&date=2004-03-17&do_alert=0

Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
March 17, 2004


GEORGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER INSPECTS ARMED FORCES


-After the visit to Vaziani, Mr. Bezhuashvili headed
for the Kudzhorsky special purpose battalion involved
in the Train and Equip program led by the US.


TBILISI, March 17 (RIA Novosti) - Georgian Defense
Minister Gela Bezhuashvili has started inspection of
the country's armed forces. On Wednesday he attended
an armored battalion at Vaziani military base.

"The inspection was planned beforehand and has nothing
to do with the events in Adzharia. However, people are
free to understand it any way they like," the Georgian
Defense Minister told journalists.

After the visit to Vaziani, Mr. Bezhuashvili headed
for the Kudzhorsky special purpose battalion involved
in the Train and Equip program led by the US.
------------------------------------------------------
6)
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=4066432&startrow=21&date=2004-03-17&do_alert=0


Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
March 17, 2004


RUSSIAN EXPERT: GEORGIA CANNOT BE UNITARY STATE

-Georgia "is only ready to create a conflict, risky
situation with elements of intimidation." "As far as I
know, the Georgian leadership is now discussing the
opportunity of a large-scale action. At the same time,
there is a risk of a military operation which has slim
chances for success."


MOSCOW, March 17, 2004. (RIA Novosti) - Georgia is not
ready to start the war against Adzharia, Konstantin
Zatulin, a State Duma deputy and director of the
Institute of the CIS Countries, said at a RIA Novosti
press conference on Wednesday.

In his opinion, Georgia "is only ready to create a
conflict, risky situation with elements of
intimidation." "As far as I know, the Georgian
leadership is now discussing the opportunity of a
large-scale action. At the same time, there is a risk
of a military operation which has slim chances for
success," noted Mr. Zatulin.

"In essence, Georgia is an agreement-based country.
The faster they understand it, the better. Since it
acquired independence, Georgia has not been an entity
for a single day. However, it is mortally dangerous
for Georgia to try to form a unitary state," said the
political scientist.
-------------------------------------------------------
7)
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=4067837&startrow=1&date=2004-03-17&do_alert=0


Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
March 17, 2004


GENERAL ACCUSED BY GEORGIAN PROSECUTOR OF TRAINING
ADZHARIA'S MILITARY IS NOT LISTED BY RUSSIAN STATE
INSTITUTIONS


MOSCOW, MARCH 17 (RIA NOVOSTI) - Yuri Netkachev,
accused by the Georgian Prosecutor General's Office of
training armed formations in Adzharia, is not listed
by Russian state institutions, the Russian embassy in
Tbilisi said.

According to an embassy official, Netkachev has not
established a contact with the Russian military in
Georgia or the Russian embassy in Tbilisi.

Netkachev was transferred to the reserve about ten
years ago and now is a private person, the embassy
official said.

Earlier, Georgian Interior Minister Giorgy Baramidze
told journalists: "We know that General Netkachev is
training illegal armed formations in Adzharia.
Military equipment, from small arms to armored
vehicles, is being bought." The minister maintained
that Netkachev came to Adzharia on Abashidze's
invitation.

"On March 14 I personally saw combat vehicles,
servicemen, trenches and pillboxes in Choloki on the
administrative border with Adzharia," Georgian
Prosecutor General Irakly Okruashvili told journalists
Tuesday.

Appearing on television Sunday night, President
Mikhail Saakashvili said that General Netkachev
"arrived in Adzharia on call from Abashidze to
destabilize the situation." According to Saakashvili,
the general, under whose command are 1,500 "specially
trained servicemen" of the Adzharian armed forces,
"has one goal - preventing the restoration of
integrity of Georgia, establishment of the supremacy
of law and the central authorities on the entire
territory of the country."







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