January 23, 2006	Monday	Zilhaj 22, 1426

VLADIKAVKAZ (Russia), Jan 22: Explosions ripped through Russia’s main natural gas pipeline to Armenia and Georgia as well as a power line on Sunday, halting supplies amid freezing temperatures and sparking accusations of sabotage from Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Two explosions occurred on the Mozdok-Tbilisi gas supply pipeline in the Russian Caucasus province of South Ossetia early on Sunday, Russian officials said.

A third blast in the nearby province of Karachayevo-Cherkesskaya cut supplies along one of the main electricity cables supplying power from Russia to Georgia, the emergency situations ministry said.

Investigators are treating the gas pipeline blasts as sabotage but not terrorism, said a spokesman for Russia’s deputy prosecutor general.

“An expert group is working at the site. According to preliminary information they have already found the remains of improvised explosive devices,” said the spokesman, Sergei Prokopov.

A criminal case of causing intentional damage to property has been opened, Prokopov told AFP.

Other officials said it could take up to four days to repair the damaged gas pipeline and at least a week to fix the power cable.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili reacted furiously, accusing Russia of being behind the blasts, which Georgian officials said could leave households without gas as soon as Sunday evening and also disrupt power supplies in Tbilisi.

“The explanation we have received from the Russian side is absolutely inadequate and contradictory. ... Georgia has been subjected to serious sabotage from the side of the Russian Federation,” Saakashvili said.

“We have long heard threats from Russian politicians that we could be left without light and gas ... and now this has happened, when Georgia is experiencing its coldest winter,” Saakashvili said.

Georgia’s deputy energy minister, Aleko Khetagurov, said talks on receiving extra gas from Iran and Azerbaijan were under way.

Extra electricity would be sought from Turkey, he said, supplementing power from another Russian power line as well as supplies generated in Georgia and supplies from Armenia.

Both Georgia and Armenia are experiencing cold winters, with temperatures in Georgia expected to fall as low as minus four degrees Celsius in the coming days.

In Armenia officials from the gas distribution utility Armrosgazprom said that stored gas reserves were available, but that suppplies to non-essential consumers would be cut.

“Armrosgazprom calls on the population to use gas economically and if necessary to use alternative sources of heat,” the company’s spokeswoman, Shushan Sardaryan, told AFP.

A spokesman for Russia’s Gazprom energy giant declined to comment directly on Saakashvili’s accusations but said gas supplies would be restored as soon as possible.

“This situation should not be politicised. Such comments in the mass media have caused us surprise,” the spokesman, Sergei Kupriyanov, told AFP. “We are taking all necessary measures to restore supplies as soon as possible.”

Georgia’s relations with Moscow have been tense since Saakashvili was swept to power by a Rose Revolution in late 2003 and promised integration with the West, including a bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).

Saakashvili on Sunday said the gas cut-off was linked to Russia’s decision to nearly double the price it charges Georgia for natural gas from January 1 to 110 dollars (91 euros) per 1,000 cubic meters.

That move is part of a restructuring of the gas prices Russia charges several former Soviet republics. A rise in the price Russia charges Armenia for gas has put unusual strain on that relationship, which has long been friendly.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian was scheduled to visit Moscow later Sunday for an Armenian-Russian cultural event and to meet President Vladimir Putin.—AFP