TBILISI – The leader of the Georgian opposition Democratic Movement party and ex-parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze said that the Georgian authorities should have accepted Russia’s help if they wanted to extinguish forest fires in the republic quickly.
“The forests in Borjomi and Abastumani are an enormous legacy left to us by our ancestors. Everything must be done to contain the fires as quickly as possible,” Burjanadze told journalists on August 30, commenting on the Georgian government’s refusal to request Russia’s firefighting assistance.
It is unclear why someone should think it unacceptable to request Russia’s help, she said. “Why it is an unacceptable step, which would rescue your forest and country, is unclear to me,” Burjanadze said, noting that had Georgia accepted Russia’s help last week, the fire in the Borjomi forest could have been put out in one day.
“We should have accepted the help we were offered, we would have avoided substantial damage,” Burjanadze said.
“It was confirmed that they [Georgian authorities] did ask Russia, but then got afraid that they would be accused of being pro-Russian, of condemning half the country to incineration. That says it all,” the Democratic Movement leader said.
Georgia had requested international assistance in relation to a major forest fire that erupted in the Abastumani area a day earlier, but there had been no request to Russia, Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili said earlier on August 30.
On August 28 the Georgian Foreign Ministry confirmed to journalists that the matter of assisting with firefighting in the Borjomi gorge was discussed by telephone between the Georgian Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Russia relations Zurab Abashidze and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin. At the time, Russia expressed its willingness to help should the situation get worse, but later such a need was not included in the agenda, the ministry said.
