Saakashvili: Putin is turning Georgia into an “amputated part”
The Georgian Military Road, one of the key highways in Transcaucasia, may lose its former significance.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this, Kommersant writes.
Thus, after the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan reach agreements on the transport development of the region, the road, as they fear in Georgia, will lose its importance, which will be a blow to the Georgian economy.
“Previously, the Asian Development Bank, together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, allocated about $500 million to Georgia for the reconstruction of the road, taking into account its importance for Armenia. But now the future of this project is unclear.
The reason is the agreement on “unblocking all economic and transport connections in the region” reached in Moscow on January 12 by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev through the mediation of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the material says.
We are talking about two main directions: a corridor from the main part of Azerbaijan to the enclave - Nakhichevan, which should pass through the Syunik region of Armenia, and a railway from Yerevan to the same Syunik region, which is laid through Nakhichevan. Both routes were actively used during Soviet times, but ceased to exist with the outbreak of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“If the project is implemented, Azerbaijan will receive a new transport route to Nakhichevan and Turkey, Russia to Turkey and Armenia, and Armenia to Iran and Russia. And consequently, the importance of the Georgian Military Road will sharply decrease,” the newspaper writes.
Ex-President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili was concerned about this situation, declaring “catastrophic consequences” of the project’s implementation for the transit significance of the country.
According to him, Georgia could turn into “an amputated part of the South Caucasus” that “no one needs.” For this “humiliation of Georgia’s transit function,” Saakashvili blames the Russian president.
“Putin brought Aliyev and Pashinyan to Moscow and told them: “Why do you need Georgia?” Saakashvili is indignant.
He believes that as a result, Baku will stop supplying natural gas to Georgia at a preferential price, and Armenia will try to compensate for the bitterness of defeat from Azerbaijan by separating the Javakheti region from Georgia, where Armenians make up 97% of the population.
At the same time, a number of Georgian experts are convinced that the apocalyptic picture painted by the ex-president is, in fact, not very far from the real state of affairs.
“All these transport projects predetermined a very important geopolitical function of Georgia, which, in turn, ensures its state stability,” said political scientist Georgiy Khukhashvili.
He believes that the demand for the Georgian Black Sea ports of Poti and Batumi “is at serious risk.”
According to the expert, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, through which regular transportation of goods from Azerbaijan to Turkey began on January 14, “could turn into one of the most unsuccessful projects.”
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