Russia responds to deadly Georgia protests

There are problems brewing in Georgia. Thousands of people opposed to the leadership of President Mikheil Saakashvili have taken to the streets for the past few days, calling for his ouster. Last night, two of the protestors were reportedly killed when riot police cracked down with tear gas and rubber bullets (one local report said two men — a protestor and a police officer — were killed by a passing convoy).

I’m writing not from Tbilisi but Moscow, so this is the view from here.

The Russian foreign ministry, showing a total lack of irony, has issued a statement harshly condemning the crackdown. “We cannot not comment on the violation of fundamental human rights and freedom,” the statement begins.

“The actions of the Georgian security services against demonstrators in Tbilisi is a flagrant violation of the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression,” it says.

Relations between Georgia and Russia began spiraling downward with the election of (Western-leaning/Western puppet, you choose the moniker though both likely apply) Saakashvili after the country’s 2003 Rose Revolution. They reached a new low with the August 2008 war over South Ossetia. Russia has every right to condemn Saakashvili, but to choose that language is just rich. Russia has, famously and repeatedly, refused to allow the bulk of requested opposition rallies, violently breaking up those that do gather (only with brute force and batons, however, not reaching yet for tear gas or rubber bullets).

In the statement, the foreign ministry then tries to turn often Western-used logic on its head, running through the list of UN violations allegedly committed by Saakashvili: “It’s become more and more clear that the statements of the Saakashvili regime must not be trusted, and that the rosy picture of “the success of young Georgian democracy” is very far from reality.”

“We hope that recent events in Georgia will get an objective assessment, not only from international human rights organizations, but also in the capitals of those countries who support the Saakashvili regime,” the statement says, in a clear dig at the US and EU. “His actions against the opposition, in violation of generally accepted democratic norms should be investigated very seriously at the international level.”