Georgia Trying to Tame the Wild Pankisi Gorge

Interior Ministry troops in Georgia cautiously launched an operation Sunday to try to bring the country’s lawless Pankisi Gorge under control, rolling in and setting up seven checkpoints but making no arrests.

The Pankisi operation, a major test for the former Soviet republic’s ragged and demoralized forces, will be closely watched by both the U.S., which fears the gorge could be a refuge for Islamic militants, and Russia, which has long been pressing Georgia to clear the area of rebels from neighboring Chechnya.

But there was no element of surprise in an operation that was announced more than a week ago, giving Chechen separatists and local criminals alike plenty of time to abandon the area.

The gorge in northeastern Georgia has long been a haven for criminals involved in kidnapping, extortion and violence. Moreover, it has a reputation as a sanctuary for the rebels fighting Russian forces across the border in Chechnya.

It took U.S. pressure and military training to nudge Georgian authorities to take action to bring the gorge under control.

U.S. forces have been training Georgian soldiers in anti-terrorist operations since May, after President Eduard A. Shevardnadze appealed to Washington for help.

Sunday’s operation coincides with army exercises in an area near the gorge that involve 1,500 Georgian troops, several hundred of them trained by U.S. Special Forces soldiers.

But Georgian officials said it was unlikely that the Defense Ministry troops would be ordered into the gorge.

Paata Gomelauri, a Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman, declined to disclose the number of Interior Ministry forces who went into the gorge Sunday.

“The troops in the gorge are backed up with tanks and armored personnel carriers. So far, no shooting has been reported. No arrests have been made either,” he said in a telephone interview. “We expect our troops to proceed to the active stage of the operation in the next few days.”

Georgian officials did say Sunday that there would be no house-to-house raids or searches--the kind of operations used by Russia to round up suspected guerrillas in Chechnya. Any arrests would be carefully targeted, based on intelligence information, the officials said.

Feeling constant unwanted interference from Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, Georgia has turned to the U.S. and Europe for support. Its progress toward democracy and stability has been disappointing, however, because of Shevardnadze’s failure to grapple effectively with crime and corruption.

Shevardnadze said the aim of Sunday’s operation was to restore order in the Pankisi Gorge and eliminate criminals and terrorists “if they are present there.”

He brushed aside criticism from Russia that the operation was belated.

“Despite criticism by opponents who argue that the operation is long overdue, the operation in the Pankisi Gorge has been launched at the right time, when guarantees of its success have been created,” he said.

These comments appeared to underscore the weakness of his country’s military forces.

Georgian Security Minister Valery Khaburzania has made several contradictory statements in the past about whether there were Islamic terrorists in the Pankisi Gorge.

In an interview on Georgian television Sunday, he avoided specifics. He said there were few rebel fighters there but some local criminals and some terrorists, without elaborating on how many or whether they were Islamic terrorists.

There are several small villages in the gorge where refugees from Chechnya are living, linked by one road. Checkpoints were set up all along the road, up into the mountains, according to Gomelauri.

It remains to be seen how the operation will unfold in the coming days, but roadblocks alone would be unlikely to stop Chechen rebels, who operate out of mountain camps, slipping down to engage Russian forces, then retreating to safety.

In winter, when mountain passes are blocked by snow, many Chechen fighters reportedly rest in the Pankisi Gorge, though precise numbers are unclear.

Russia has been at war with separatist Chechens on and off since 1994 but has never succeeded in crushing the rebel fighters despite repeated claims of victory.

The reported presence of fighters in Georgia is the main source of conflict between Russia and Georgia.

Russia has repeatedly called on Georgia to bring the area under control. On Friday, after seven or eight warplanes bombed Georgian territory, killing one person, Georgia accused the Russian military of carrying out the attacks.

Although Russia denied any responsibility, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said over the weekend that reports that the planes were Russian were credible.

“The United States strongly supports Georgia’s independence and territorial integrity and has welcomed similar statements by the Russian Federation,” Fleischer said Saturday.

“Yesterday’s attacks and their denial by the Russian government, however, belie such Russian assurances and escalate existing tension between Russia and Georgia, just as cooperative arrangements for regional security arrangements are emerging,” he said.

Shevardnadze welcomed the statement.

But a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Nikolai Deryabin, insisted Sunday that Russia was not responsible, saying the claims “may only arouse surprise.”

“Instead of taking concrete measures to eliminate the hotbed of terrorism in the Pankisi Gorge, Georgia is again engaging in political speculation,” Deryabin said.

Times staff writer Edwin Chen in Las Cruces, N.M., contributed to this report.