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By Margarita Antidze
TBILISI (Reuters) - Russian gas started to flow to Georgia again on
Sunday, a week after pipeline explosions cut supplies during the
coldest winter in a decade, straining relations with its northern
neighbour, officials said.
The unexplained blasts in Russia also cut a major power line and
high winds later in the week severed another cable, starving Georgia
of electricity.
Georgians have been shivering around makeshift stoves, reduced to
queuing for kerosene and foraging for wood, bringing back unwelcome
memories of the chaos that plagued the years after the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
"Russian gas has already crossed the Georgian border," Georgian
Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli told reporters.
He added that some houses in Tbilisi would have gas from 12 p.m.
British time and expected supplies to the rest of the country to get
back to normal on Monday.
Temperatures in Georgia have been well below freezing, bitterly
cold for a country better known for its vineyards and balmy Black Sea
resorts.
Georgia has also agreed with Iran to bring gas via neighbouring
Azerbaijan. "It is very important for us to keep that alternative
source of gas supply," Nogaideli said.
The Georgian capital had electricity once more on Sunday, but
officials warned it could be several days before the damaged power
lines were mended to restore power to the whole country.
FROSTY
The gas emergency has damaged relations between Moscow and Tbilisi,
already frosty since President Mikhail Saakashvili, who rose to power
after a "Rose Revolution" in 2003, made it clear he wanted to align
his country more closely with the West.
He accused Russia of deliberately blowing up the pipeline and then
dragging its heels over repairs to put pressure on Georgia, a Caucasus
state of 4.5 million people, to surrender ownership of its domestic
network to Moscow.
| Russia issued a sharp denial, calling Tbilisi hysterical
and saying it was doing everything it could to finish repairs.
"The after-effects of the accident have been wholly
eliminated. The pipeline started to be filled with gas ...
immediately after the completion of repair work," Russian
state gas monopoly Gazprom said in a statement.
Russia is the world's second largest oil exporter and
provides a quarter of Europe's gas. But its reputation as a
reliable supplier was shaken in the New Year after gas flows
to Europe suffered when it cut Ukraine's supply over a pricing
row.
Ukraine's pro-Western leadership has said Moscow was using
its vast energy sources as a political weapon.
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