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Azeri Gas Starts Flowing to Georgia; Repairs to Ruptured Pipeline
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=10B37EC:3919ACA Effort appears to
have done little to warm up bitter rhetoric coming from Georgia, which
accuses Russia of deliberately cutting off gas to punish Georgia for
its pro-western policies



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Georgians queue to fill up gas canisters in Ponichala outside Tbilisi,
Jan. 22, 2006Azerbaijan has started natural gas deliveries to Georgia
- one day after a series of explosions in the Russian Caucasus region
of North Ossetia knocked out the main supply line from Russia to
Georgia amid a prolonged spell of sub-zero temperatures. Emergency
officials warn it could take up to a week before full delivery is
normalized.

Emergency officials worked through the night to fill a separate
pipeline from Russia to Azerbaijan so that more than a million
residents of Georgia could meet the start of the day with heat.

Separately, officials at Russia's largest energy concern,
state-controlled Gazprom, have agreed to transmit an additional three
million cubic meters daily to Azerbaijan in order to help keep Georgia
supplied during the interim.







Georgian protests near the headquarters of Russian troops in
Transcaucasia, demanding the restoration of gas supplies, in
TbilisiBut the effort appears to have done little to warm up the
bitter rhetoric coming from Georgia, which accuses Russia of
deliberately cutting off the gas to punish Georgia for its pro-Western
policies. Georgian parliamentary speaker, Nino Burjzanadze, leveled
the charge, voiced earlier by President Mikhail Saakashvili, on
Russian radio (Echo Moscow).

Burjzanadze tells Echo Moscow Georgia that she believes the trouble
was no accident.

Georgian officials have not offered any proof to substantiate their
claims against Russia, which Moscow rejects as nothing more than
"hysteria."

In a written statement late Sunday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said
Moscow was doing all it could to minimize disruption to Georgian
consumers and warned Georgia's government it was risking relations
with Russia, if it continues with the charges.

Russian investigators continue to examine the blast site for clues as
to the cause of Sunday's explosion, but say they suspect sabotage
because of evidence of explosive devices found at the scene.







President Mikhail Saakashvili Hours after the blast, a third explosion
knocked out a power line carrying electricity to Georgia. Turkey
stepped up to meet that need, but President Saakashvili has warned
Georgians about the likelihood of rolling black-outs over the next few
days as emergency officials struggle to restore service.

The developments come as Turkmenistan's president, Saparmurat Niyazov,
continues a rare visit to Russia Monday expected to focus on expanding
natural gas supplies. Turkmenistan is the second largest producer of
natural gas in the former Soviet Union, after Russia.

 


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