Georgia: Funding Cuts May Jeopardise Army Recovery

Georgia’s government has set aside barely enough money to repair damage caused to the army by its August war against Russia, let alone fulfil its promise to modernise the force, say experts.



According to David Kezerashvili, who was defence minister during the disastrous five-day war, Georgia lost equipment worth 400 million US dollars. President Mikheil Saakashvili said in August that the country would need 18 months to restore its military forces.



Following the conflict, new defence minister David Sikharulidze, who replaced Kezerashvili in December, has set as priorities developing Georgia’s defensive capacities and moving towards the standards of NATO, which the country is eager to join.



“In the first place, developing anti-rocket systems, anti-tank possibilities and the country’s air force is necessary,” he said.



But since the defence ministry will only receive 900 million lari (540 million dollars) this year – a reduction of 500 million lari on the 2008 budget – the country will struggle to replace what was destroyed, and will have little left to spend on developing its forces, analysts say.



They argue that damage done by Russia – which invaded Georgia after Tbilisi attempted to regain control of the breakaway region of South Ossetia – was so extensive that it will be a long time before the army returns to its pre-war strength.



“With the reduced budget, the defence ministry can only partly restore the military’s material losses, and it will require years to prepare personnel so as to replace those killed in the war with professional officers,” said retired general Koba Kobaladze, a former commander of the Georgian National Guard.



“Now the Georgian army is a lot less battle-ready than it was before August. Of course, as a result, security and the country’s level of defensive ability are in question.”



Irakli Aladashvili, a military expert, detailed the damage done during the conflict, in which 170 professional soldiers and officers were killed and another 400 injured.



“The Russian armed forces destroyed or took as trophies a large amount of military equipment: around 70 tanks and armoured vehicles, up to 10 artillery systems, four BUK-1M air defence systems, two fighters and three boats,” he said.



“Russia also destroyed 4,000 automatic weapons and a large amount of ammunition.”



Following the war, relations between Tbilisi and Moscow remain strained.



Russia has since recognised as independent states South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another separatist area on the Black Sea. Georgia considers them to be under Russian occupation, since the administrations in both territories have allowed Moscow to open military bases.



Last month, analysts warned that Georgia risked provoking Russian wrath, when Georgian foreign minister Grigol Vashadze signed a strategic partnership treaty with then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.



Washington signed similar accords with the Baltic countries in 1998, which were considered to be instrumental in helping them achieve NATO membership six years later.



Yet some Georgians have concerns about whether the new administration in Washington will be as active as its predecessor in forging close ties with Tbilisi – especially since a report by respected think-tank Freedom House last month gave a low assessment of Georgia’s democratic progress.



According to a US military assessment leaked to the New York Times in December by “a person concerned about the poor readiness of Georgia’s military”, massive investment is needed before the army can hope to meet western standards.



Georgia's armed forces, said the report, are highly centralised, prone to impulsive rather than deliberative decision making, undermined by unclear lines of command and led by senior officials who were selected for personal relationships rather than professional qualifications.



Moreover, according to the report, Georgia's military lacks basic elements of a modern military bureaucracy, ranging from a sound national security doctrine to clear policies for handling classified material to a personnel-management system to guide soldiers through their careers.



Since the report was made available to the Georgians, Saakashvili replaced his defence minister with Sikharulidze, a psychiatrist who previously served as ambassador to Washington.



But experts said this and other changes are superficial and will make little difference.



“These changes remind me of a simple re-arrangement. In reality, Mikheil Saakashvili is punishing the military for his own mistakes, which is one more sign of an authoritarian government,” said Giorgi Sesiashvili, a retired general and the former rector of the country’s military academy.



The ease of its defeat by Russia severely harmed the prestige of the army, which was previously held in high regard by ordinary Georgians.



After the war, the media frequently wrote about the arrest of deserters, with some 50 officers and soldiers reportedly accused.



The defence ministry has still not given precise figures of the number of criminal cases opened against servicemen for leaving their posts.



“According to the information we have, 30 servicemen were tried in court for leaving the battlefield. However, the authorities freed them all before New Year,” said Sophio Khorguani, a former deputy ombudsman of Georgia.



The desertions and the scape-goating of the army for the humiliating defeat have harmed the morale of the armed forces, which could take many years to restore, say some experts.



Many young men, such as 23-year-old Giorgi, who lost a friend in the war, are now unsure about a military career.



“I was thinking about a military career, but after I saw that the authorities sent the soldiers and reservists to certain death, I thought again,” he told IWPR.



National television channels have tried to counter this tarnished image by providing extensive coverage of a new recruiting drive, under which some 600 soldiers are already being trained, and of the formation of a new artillery brigade to be armed with Israeli, Czech and other modern weapons.



Koba Liklikadze is a military analyst with Radio Liberty in Tbilisi.