Georgia uncovers military group, suspects ties to Russia

[Tiriol]

As reported by BBC News.

Georgia 'uncovers military coup'

Georgia has uncovered an attempted military coup, the country's defence minister says.

David Sikharulidze said the rebellion was centred around the Mukhrovani military base.

It was not immediately clear whether the supposed coup had already been launched, or whether the government had just disrupted an alleged plot.

The announcement was made just a day before controversial Nato military exercises are due to begin in Georgia.

The interior ministry told the BBC that the plotters wanted to destabilise Georgia and assassinate President Mikhail Saakashvili.

A spokesman said there had been one arrest, but that the leader of the plot - a former chief of special forces - was still at large.

The spokesman said the government had been aware of the plot for two months.

"It was aimed at disrupting the Nato military exercises and an attempt at a military coup," Defence Minister Sikharulidze told Georgian TV.

An interior ministry spokesman said the rebellion appeared to be "co-ordinated with Russia".

Georgia and Russia have poisonous relations, and fought a war over Georgia's breakaway territory of South Ossetia last August.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has condemned Nato for planning military exercises in a country "where there was just a war".

The situation remains tence, it appears. BBC and Helsingin Sanomat's Finnish site were the only places where this was reported at this time.

[K. A. Pital]

No wonder the Georgian military would be plotting to remove the tie-muncher after his violent debacle turned out quite less fortunate than he expected it to be, if he expected it to succeed at all that it.

I doubt the Georgian military is loving the state of utter collapse his attack unleashed on them, not to mention the destruction of virtually all Georgian naval, aerial and artillery assets.

[Thanas]

^You forgot to include the enormous shame and loss of prestige they have suffered. I think this is the real kicker - weapons can be rebuilt or newly purchased, but once you have been made a ridicule on the world stage there is precious little you can do to recover that one.

[K. A. Pital]

Yeah, and there'll be a lot of plots and widespread riots when NATO finally arrives me thinks. The national prestige of Georgia was really wounded by that event, and even prior to that there were massive rallies against Saakashvili as I recall, which he duly dispersed by installing a three-day martial law in the whole nation.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Saakashvili had to lock up a number of the protest organizers, and was reported to have ordered that some of them had to be roughed up or something of the like.

[Tiriol]

The rebellion appears to be over, as reported by BBC News.

Georgian troop rebellion 'over'
Georgia's Shota Utiashvili: 'There is a strong link to the Russian Special Services'

A mutiny at a military base near Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is over, the Georgian interior minister says.

Vano Merabishvili said the commander of the Mukhrovani base where a tank battalion mutined had been arrested and others were being questioned.

Tbilisi said earlier it was part of a Russia-linked coup attempt to kill President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Russia's envoy to Nato described the charges as "mad". The trouble comes a day before Nato exercises in Georgia.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has condemned Nato for planning military exercises in a country "where there was just a war".

Georgia and Russia have poisonous relations, and fought a war over Georgia's breakaway territory of South Ossetia last August.

In a separate development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he would not attend a planned meeting of the Nato-Russia Council later this month following the alliance's expulsion of two Russian diplomats last week.

They were expelled reportedly in retaliation for a spy scandal involving an Estonian official.

Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer expressed regret at Mr Lavrov's decision.

'Plotter at large'

The mutiny at the Mukhrovani base, some 30km (20 miles) from Tbilisi, erupted on Tuesday morning, when soldiers began disobeying orders, Georgian officials said.

The soldiers were aiming at "disrupting Nato exercises and overturning the authorities militarily", Georgian Defence Minister David Sikharulidze told Georgian television.

It was not immediately known how many soldiers took part in the mutiny.

The mutiny broke out as the government announced it had disrupted a coup plot.

The interior ministry told the BBC that the plotters wanted to destabilise Georgia and assassinate President Saakashvili.

Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said one of the suspected coup leaders - former special forces commander Georgy Gvaladze - was arrested. But the alleged co-plotter - former chief of special forces Koba Otanadze - was still at large.

The spokesman said the government had been aware of the plot for two months.

The rebellion appeared to be "co-ordinated with Russia", the interior ministry said.

But Dmitry Rogozin, Moscow's ambassador at military alliance, said the mutiny in Georgia was the result of "crazy politics of President Saakashvili".

In a separate development, opposition protests are continuing in Tbilisi.

The demonstrators say they plan to block three main roads into the capital later on Tuesday.

[Posner]

No wonder the Georgian military would be plotting to remove the tie-muncher after his violent debacle turned out quite less fortunate than he expected it to be, if he expected it to succeed at all that it.

Why would he have embarked on the whole thing if he thought it wouldn't succeed?

[Lonestar]

Why would he have embarked on the whole thing if he thought it wouldn't succeed?

He wasn't expecting it to succeed. He was expecting the US to stick it's hand in a hornets' nest.

[Thanas]

No wonder the Georgian military would be plotting to remove the tie-muncher after his violent debacle turned out quite less fortunate than he expected it to be, if he expected it to succeed at all that it.

Why would he have embarked on the whole thing if he thought it wouldn't succeed?

There are several possibillities that suggest South Ossetia wasn't his prime objective. It may have been an attempt to unite the country behind him (his control of the country was slipping and war is an old method to deflect criticism and internal unrest). It may also have been pure lunacy, the guy is not exactly renowned for his stability.

There is also the possibility that he didn't think it would escalate that far - note that he didn't immediately bomb the only tunnel which linked SO with Russia.

Or he never thought he would succeed but that his pals in Nato would come charging to his rescue.

[Kodiak]

It's crazy how volatile the situation remains, and there are more and more layers as investigations go on. However, every time someone talks about military trouble in Georgia, I'm reminded of this

[[R_H]]

Anyone else see a part of his broadcast? No EU flag, just the Georgian flag.

Apparently the Russians were going to supply the Georgian soldiers with explosives, or something like that (according to the Georgians). Ridiculous, seeing how it's a tank battalion, not like they'd be lacking in the explosives department.

[Sea Skimmer]

Geography provided a shot at Georgian victory in South Ossetia if they’d done well in the first 1-2 days. That might have happened had they committed all the forces they had into the initial assault instead of only two brigades. Everyone always plans for a short victorious war after all. Problem was no military means ever existed to forestall a Russian counter attack through Abkhazia which could have simply overrun more and more of Georgia until they withdrew from South Ossetia. I think that’s when belief in US support saving the day came into the ‘plan’.

The Roki tunnel most likely wasn’t bombed because the Goergians only had a handful of Su-25 attack planes and no precision guided weapons for them. An iron bomb attack (and the plane can’t haul a bomb over 1000kg in weight) would be highly unlikely to knock out a hard rock tunnel. Had a successful advance been made the tunnel quickly could have been closed down by artillery fire and infantry dug in on the hills and mountains around its approach road.

[Sea Skimmer]

Anyone else see a part of his broadcast? No EU flag, just the Georgian flag.

Apparently the Russians were going to supply the Georgian soldiers with explosives, or something like that (according to the Georgians). Ridiculous, seeing how it's a tank battalion, not like they'd be lacking in the explosives department.

Tank shells aren’t the best thing to use as a demolition charge. They have various safeties that will make them very unwilling to explode until they have felt the shock of firing fired out of a gun barrel. That ensures if you drop one on the ground, it doesn't blow you up. So if they wanted to make a big bomb and blow up the presidents office or something, a supply of bulk explosives would have been useful. The Georgian Army surely has plenty, but a tank battalion wouldn’t have much reason to have it on hand.

[K. A. Pital]

Uh, seen the new reports... Georgia is such a joke. First they claim "Russia is behind the mutiny", and now they claim "We never claimed Russia was behind the mutiny!". That's 10 kinds of sad and funny at the same time.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

It sounds to me that this is more a purge than anything else. Is it a mutiny? Possibly. Is it a purge? Equally likely.

[K. A. Pital]

Georgia's armored forces aren't even 1/10th happy about Saakashvili's policies, me thinks.

The report says the mutineers did not advance towards the capitol (despite being 20 km off the city center!) and did not open fire, merely refused to follow orders. Which orders, it begs the question, and also why are they so stupid? If you rebel to destroy a government, you should go and kill your enemies, especially considering the public outcry which is now in Tbilisi would have easy allowed them to get civilian shield support for their armored columns.

Either those are very, very cowardly mutineers (likely), or their mutiny has reasons we know nothing about.

[Thanas]

Fuel shortages maybe? I doubt Georgia is able to regularly supply the troops they have left since the russians did a number on their infrastructure.

Whatever supplies they have most likely go to a few select (and loyal) units, with the rest being used to placate the populus from rising against the idiot.