Duma official comments on Georgian parliament's decree
According to leader of the Yedinstvo faction of the Russian State DumaVladimir Pekhtin, the implementation of the Georgian parliament's decreeabout Georgia's withdrawal from the Commonwealth of the Independent States(CIS) "may accelerate the situation in the Caucasus". The faction leadersaid so to journalists today. According to the decree approved by theGeorgian parliament, the republic should withdraw from the CIS, whileRussian military forces along with the CIS peacekeeping corps should leaveGeorgia altogether, while the republic's defense and security should bereinforced. The State Duma deputy believes this decree, "whose message seems tocontradict the statement made by Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, infact tunes well into the political play of Georgian leaders around theevents in the Pankisi gorge". According to Pekhtin, these days thepolitical situation "in patched-up Georgia is such that they had to come upwith a proven move of consolidation - a certain external threat". Theleader of the Yedinstvo faction believes that "the Georgian parliament'sboldness was boosted by the US statement concerning alleged bombings of theGeorgian territory by Russian airplanes". He suggested that his Georgiancounterparts not indulge in this belief, since "they know just as well as Ido that there is no such thing as double-standard-free politics". It isnaive to think that similar standards won't be applied in respect toGeorgia. .
