GEORGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER READY TO EMPLOY GODSON GRACHEV…

The Georgian press over the weekend cited Russia’s ousted defense minister, General Pavel Grachev, as saying that he has many friends in Defense Ministries of CIS countries and is willing to take up a position in one of those countries. Georgia’s defense minister, Lt.-General Vardiko Nadibaidze, promptly responded at a Tbilisi briefing that "if Grachev wants to help us, we will gladly accept his help." Nadibaidze claimed that Grachev "with his enormous experience" could oversee the program, which the two of them drew up, to equip Georgia’s military with Russian hardware. As the Georgian press recently revealed, and President Eduard Shevardnadze’s spokesman sarcastically confirmed over the weekend, Nadibaidze became Grachev’s godfather earlier this year when Grachev received the Christian baptism in a Georgian church. (Interfax, June 22) Shevardnadze, who hastened to congratulate Aleksandr Lebed on the latter’s triumph in his power struggle with Grachev, is unlikely to welcome Grachev to Tbilisi.

…As Russia Holds Out Military Hardware for Georgia.