Senior Russian Senator: 'Georgia Ordered Domodedovo Bombing'

Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 27 Feb.'11

Alexander Torshin, deputy speaker of Russia's upper house of the Parliament, Federal Council, said he did not believe Islamist militants were behind the January terrorist act at Domodedovo airport in Moscow and blamed Georgia for ordering the attack.

He said in an interview with the Russian state newspaper, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, published on February 25, that Islamist rebel leader Doku Umarov, who said he had ordered the Domodedovo bombing, had either nothing to do with this attack or at most acted as a middleman between those who had really ordered it and those who had carried it out.

"I am sure the terrorist act was organized from outside... I will say from where, although I understand that my words may trigger wave of anger and misunderstanding, but I think, it was Georgia and its ruling regime [who ordered the attack]," Torshin said.

"Saakashvili is not hiding his animosity towards us. He has long turned anti-Russian attitudes into a competitive product, which he is selling.There is nothing else to sell; the Georgian wines are being sold poorly on the foreign markets... But there is a demand on Russophobia. The Saakashvili's regime had no need at all in Umarov to organize the terrorist act, because there is Ossetian traitor [Dimitri] Sanakoev [the head of Tbilisi-based provisional South Ossetian administration] and his network of agents," he added.

Torshin, who is a member of ruling United Russia party, led the parliamentary commission of inquiry into 2004 Beslan school hostage-taking tragedy and a commission to probe into the August, 2008 war. He is a member of National Counter-terrorism Committee (NAK), which is Russia's government body coordinating anti-terrorism policies.

Source: Civil Georgia.
Link: http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23189.

Secret documents by Wikileaks confirming that war in Georgia was started by Russia

29 November 2010

Wikileaks has published confidential reports made by US Embassy in Georgia in August 2008. All reports are concerning Russia's aggression against Georgia and the situation in August. These documents are backing official position of Georgia declaring that war 2008 was provocated by Russia.

REPORT SAYS:

"All the evidence available to the country team supports Saakashvili 's statement that this fight was not Georgia's original intention. Key Georgian officials who would have had responsibility for an attack on South Ossetia have been on leave, and the Georgians only began mobilizing August 7 once the attack was well underway.

As late as 2230 last night Georgian MOD and MFA officials were still hopeful that the unilateral cease-fire announced by President Saakashvili would hold. Only when the South Ossetians opened up with artillery on Georgian villages, did the offensive to take Tskhinvali begin. Post has eyes on the ground at the Ministry of Interior command post in Tbilisi and will continue to provide updates.

The Embassy held an EAC and will hold another to reassess the situation by COB. We have issued a warden message and are looking at the situation very carefully. If the Georgians are right, and the fighting is mainly over, the real unknown is what the Russian role will be and whether there is potential for the conflict to expand".

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/11/29/13011.shtml.

Armenians Plead Guilty in Georgia to Uranium Smuggling

By Loretta Duchamps
Epoch Times Staff

Nov 9, 2010

Two Armenians have pleaded guilty to smuggling nuclear bomb-grade uranium from their country into Georgia, as decided during a secret trial, said officials on Monday according to AFP.

In March, the two men, Sumbat Tonoian and Hrant Ohanian, attempted to sell 18 grams (0.6 ounces) of the smuggled uranium for $1.5 million. Their client turned out to be an undercover agent posing as an Islamic radical, said Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili according to AFP.

The uranium, about 90 percent enriched, was smuggled by the two in a cigarette box on a train from Armenia’s capital Yerevan to Tbilisi.

“Most likely, the materials were stolen in the mid- or early 90s when a big amount of material disappeared. It’s hidden somewhere and from time to time, someone is trying to find new buyers,” Archil Pavlenishvili, who heads a nuclear smuggling unit in Georgia’s Interior Ministry, told The Guardian.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili communicated about the case with world leaders in April at a nuclear summit, but details couldn’t be made public before the two had been found guilty, reported Civil.ge.

The United States has equipped Georgia with radiation detection equipment at all land, air, and sea border crossings.

To safeguard the identity of the undercover agents, the trial took place in Georgia behind closed doors. The men face prison terms of a minimum of 10 years, reported Radio Free Europe.

This case is the third nuclear smuggling incident exposed in Georgia.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/45648/.

Georgia apologizes for extradition of Iranian national

Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze has apologized to Iran for the extradition of an Iranian national to the United States in 2008.

Vashadze made the apology during a meeting with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in Tehran on Monday.

He said the extradition of Amir-Hossein Ardebili took place at a time when Georgia was in a complex political situation.

The US accuses Ardebili of involvement in arms procurement for Tehran.

"We apologize for the act carried out by the then government of Georgia in regard to Mr. Ardebili," IRNA quoted Vashadze as saying.

During the meeting, Larijani expressed disapproval of the presence of foreign powers in the region.

"The problems and crises of the region should be revolved through regional countries, and the presence of foreign powers only complicates the situation," Larijani said.

He went on to say that the insecurity in Afghanistan and Iraq affects all other countries in the region.

Earlier in the day, Vashadze held talks with the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili.

Dring the meeting, Jalili called for a regional solution to help establish stability and security in the region.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116497§ionid=351020101.