GEORGIA: SITREP 22: HUMAN CHAIN SHOWS GEORGIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 001496

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC AND TASKFORCE-1

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/26/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM RU GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIA: SITREP 22: HUMAN CHAIN SHOWS GEORGIAN
UNITY

REF: TBILISI 1482

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN F. TEFFT FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) Summary. On September 1 as many as 1.5 million
Georgians rallied across the country to express national
unity and opposition to Russia's actions. The OSCE did not
observe any confrontations or movements, but did see the
presence of heavy vehicles in an ethnically Georgian village
southwest of Akhalgori. The government has decided to annul
the legal basis for the presence of Russian forces anywhere
in Georgia and is in the process of implementing this
decision. The government is preparing a human rights case to
submit to the International Criminal Court. Georgia's
Patriarch told the Ambassador that he was frustrated and
unable to understand why Russia was behaving as it was. End
Summary.

THE HUMAN CHAIN
--------------


2. (SBU) A massive pro-Georgia rally was held in Tbilisi,
with other smaller rallies around Georgia, to coincide with
the September 1 EU emergency meeting in Brussels. An
estimated 1 to 1.5 million people participated across the
country, with Speaker of Parliament Bakradze estimating the
number of participants to be at 1.2 million. We saw at least
100,000 people in downtown Tbilisi. The government
encouraged attendance by declaring the work day over at 2:00
P.M. and instructing government workers to participate.
Crowds started gathering well before 2:00 on Freedom Square
and Rustaveli Avenue; by 2:30 large crowds had gathered
throughout the downtown area, stopping car traffic. Vehicles
draped with Georgian flags drove throughout the city, some
with (primarily young) people hanging out of them, waving
flags as well. The atmosphere was festive, even raucous,
with a palpable sense of defiance, as spontaneous chants of
"Sakartvelo" ("Georgia") and renditions of the national
anthem broke out. All ages and strata of society were
represented in the remarkably incident-free rally. Embassy
observers noted scores of U.S., NATO, and various European
flags as well. In one instance an individual carrying an
Israeli flag stood a few feet from another carrying an
Iranian one.


3. (SBU) Reminiscent of the Baltic protests in 1991,
participants formed a human chain that stretched for miles
down Rustaveli Avenue, along Chavchavadze to the Russian
Embassy, across the river, along the other side, and back
across the river to join together in a huge loop. A
large-scale media campaign preceded the event, which was
nominally organized by "Stop Russia," a nebulous group
dedicated to providing what it describes as accurate
information about the conflict to counter Russian propaganda.
The organization's "I Am Georgia" and "Stop Russia"
placards, posters and T-shirts, in English, were ubiquitous,
including an enormous English-language billboard on Freedom
Square. On August 31 President Saakashvili made a late-night
appeal to the Georgian public to attend the rallies, and
Patriarch Ilia II blessed the event in his Sunday sermon.
The president made his way through the crowd on Freedom
Square to loud applause, with little security apparent. He
addressed the crowd from a balcony, praising Georgia's unity,
strength and resolve, using typically fiery language to say
that Georgia had stopped "21st-century hordes," and that
Georgia would be the graveyard for Russian imperialism.


4. (SBU) Representatives Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Steve King
(R-IA) drove past the human chain in downtown Tbilisi during
their visit and were very impressed with the positive energy
and enthusiasm of the participants. In a public statement,
Rep. Donnelly compared the flag-waving crowds to Americans
celebrating the Fourth of July, and Rep. King made sure to
acquire a Georgian flag to bring back as a reminder of the
excitement of the day.

OSCE NOTES CALM, BUT OBSERVES VEHICLES
--------------


5. (SBU) Russian troops continue to refuse access to areas
north of the outer ring of checkpoints and to the conflict
zone in South Ossetia, with no change coming from OSCE Head
of Mission Hakala's August 29 meeting with Russian General
Kulakhmetov (see reftel). In the meantime, OSCE monitors are
currently attempting to visit as many sites as possible in
the area south of the checkpoints. Recently arrivals have
doubled the number of monitors from 8 to 16, with four more
monitors expected this week. The OSCE is now able to have
three patrols out at a time.


TBILISI 00001496 002 OF 002



6. (SBU) On September 1 the OSCE heard reports of movements
of heavy vehicles from west to east in the area of
predominantly Georgian villages just west of Akhalgori. The
monitors then confirmed the presence of at least 12, and
possibly as many as 48, large vehicles, including BTRs, in
the small village of Monasteri southwest of Akhalgori, just
north of the administrative border of South Ossetia. The
OSCE did not observe any vehicle movement. Their immediate
purpose and destination were unknown, although OSCE
speculated that they were meant to provide "protection" for
South Ossetia and its border and deter any Georgian action.

ANNULMENT OF BASIS OF RUSSIAN PRESENCE
--------------


7. (C) Further to the discussion in reftel, Deputy Speaker of
Parliament (and minority faction Christian Democratic
Movement member) Levan Vepkhvadze clarified that the
provisions of the August 28 parliamentary resolution calling
for the severance of all diplomatic ties with Russia and the
annulment of all legal acts providing for Russian forces on
Georgian territory were non-binding recommendations to the
government. Minister of Reintegration Yakobashvili has
stated publicly that Georgia must maintain a minimal
diplomatic relationship with Russia to protect its citizens
in Russia. He informed the Embassy, however, that the
government has already promulgated a decision nullifying the
legal acts, including withdrawal from the 1992 Sochi and 1994
Moscow agreements, and was in the process of implementing
this decision. (In a separate conversation, Deputy Minister
for Reintegration David Rakviashvili explained that the legal
steps for withdrawal from the two agreements would be
different, because one was a bilateral agreement with Russia
and the other was a multilateral CIS agreement.)
Yakobashvili went on to explain that the only practical
impact of the provision was to indicate that Georgia no
longer accepts the previous peacekeeping arrangements, and
that the six-point cease-fire agreement was the only
acceptable basis for any new plan. The implication seemed to
be that Georgia would consider any new peacekeeping plan
based on the new cease-fire, presumably even one involving
Russian forces.

GEORGIA PURSUING CASE WITH THE ICC
--------------


8. (C) The Prosecutor's Office confirmed that the Ministry of
Justice is preparing a case to file with the International
Criminal Court, likely alleging human rights abuses such as
ethnic cleansing in South Ossetia by Ossetian militias and
Russian forces. Human Rights Watch has privately encouraged
such a step, citing significant evidence of abuses, including
ethnic cleansing.

PATRIARCH QUESTIONS RUSSIAN MOTIVES
--------------


9. (C) The Ambassador met with a visibly frustrated and
tired Patriarch Ilia II on August 29. The Patriarch thanked
the Ambassador for the assistance which the United States was
giving Georgia in its hour of need, particularly humanitarian
assistance for the new internally displaced persons. Ilia II
said he was tired of watching on television the horrible
things done to innocent Georgians by Russians and South
Ossetians. He said that he had traveled to the zone of
conflict after the cessation of open hostilities to retrieve
the bodies of dead soldiers and civilians, because the
Russians respected only his office. It was dangerous but the
only way to give the victims a proper burial. He had
traveled to South Ossetia with side cars shielding him from
possible shooting by Russian forces. Ilia II said he had
written to both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin,
asking that they rescind their decision to recognize the
independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He asked the
Ambassador how we could convince the Russians to withdraw
their forces and to walk back their recognition decisions.
What kind of face-saving step did they want? The Patriarch
said he simply could not understand the rationale behind
Putin's decision to invade Georgia. It would solve no
problems and generate more anger and hatred toward Russia.

VISITORS
--------------


10. (SBU) Representatives Donnelly and King completed their
visit September 1. OVP continues its preparations.
TEFFT