An interview with Levon Barsegyan, the head of the Gyumri Press-Club ”Asparez” (Arena)

We would like to note from the outset that our aim herein is not to produce a legal justification of Russia’s actions before and after August 2008. It is absolutely obvious for us that Russia was a conflicting party and an active supporter of the separatist governments within the ongoing conflicts in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region whose actions before the August 2008 aggression can only be evaluated as “creeping annexation.”

Post-Soviet “democracy” still differs greatly from the Western interpretation of the term in its content and forms of expression.

Economic Slowdown

Pre-War Situation

In the last three years (2005-2007), the Georgian economy has experienced a dynamic development with an average real GDP growth rate exceeding 10 percent. The projection for 2008 was some 9 percent. The strong economic growth was mainly driven by private capital inflows from abroad (direct foreign investments plus bank credits). Official data, which is confirmed by the IMF, indicates that these inflows increased by 4.6 times in 2004-2007 to USD 2.3 billion (or 22.5 percent of the GDP).

It is not the purpose of this article to analyse the aims and results of the Russian military aggression which, in fact, requires a special study. Herein, the author is mainly focused upon certain the shortcomings in Georgian foreign policy v. Russia.

The Georgia-NATO relationship dates back to the 1990s when Georgia started to participate in the program “Partnership for Peace“ and became one of the founders of the Euro-Atlantic Council. Georgia was involved in the NATO peace operation in Kosovo from the very beginning following which it also took part in the NATO peace operation in Afghanistan.

Evaluation of Military Threats

Major legal documents on the national defense and security policy are:

1. National security concept of Georgia
2. Hazards assessment report of Georgia
3. National military strategy of Georgia

Almost all spheres of the Georgian economy appear to be in a difficult situation associated with high risks which are the consequences of a plethora of mistakes committed during the last years. Moreover, the current situation is significantly and gravely aggravated by Russia’s military aggression. The existing threats are seen to seriously hamper a rapid economic rehabilitation of the country in the period following the occupation.

The following is a description of the substance of mistakes which have been made in various sectors and the ways for preventing them in the future.

The military developments which started in South Ossetia in August 2008 have presently converted into a global crisis. Given a three-dimensional nature of the conflict, the elimination of the crisis is expected to be a very difficult task.