Russia Claims to Have 'Stabilized' Caucasus with S-300 Missiles in Abkhazia

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (L) shakes hands with breakaway South Ossetia leader Eduard Kokoity at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in Sochi, Russia 13 August 2010. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The deployment of Russian S-300 missile complexes in the breakaway Georgian republic of Abkhazia has served to stabilize the Caucasus, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

The placement of S-300 anti-aircraft rockets in Abkhazia is intended to solve the problems in Abkhazia purely defensively, and cannot have a destabilizing effect on the situation in the region, declared Friday Andrei Nesterenko, Spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, as cited by ITAR-TASS, after a recent statement by Russian air force commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin indicated the presence of S-300 missiles on the territory of Abkhazia but did not specify when they were deployed there.

"Air defense system with S-300 is the standard weapons of the military base of Russia in Abkhazia, which is designed to solve the problem purely defensive.Its location could not have a destabilizing effect on the situation in the region and does not violate any international obligations of Russia", said Nesterenko.

"Our military cooperation with Abkhazia and South Ossetia is not news and not a secret. It is based on the relevant intergovernmental bilateral agreements with the sole purpose - to ensure the safety of young Caucasian republics and stability in the region as a whole - he continued. The relevance of this is more than obvious in the light of the tragic events of August 2008 and continuing to this day revenge aspirations Tbilisi,” declared the senior Russian diplomat.

Georgia’s breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia have become de facto client states of Russia after they seceded in the wake of August 2008 Georgian-Russian War. They have been recognized as sovereign states only by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Nauru.

The deployment of Russian missiles in Abkhazia has caused concern among the Western powers, including on part of the EU.

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