Armenia fears Russia's blockade of Georgia will lead to its own isolation

Russia is a main trading partner for the small, landlocked Caucasus nation, but most of Armenia's goods travel to Russia via Georgia, since neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan have closed their borders in protest at the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

With Georgia's transport links with Russia severed, many Armenian businessmen found themselves unable Saturday to ship the season's fruit and vegetables, as well as grocery products and other goods, to Russia. Such restrictions may deal a painful blow to Armenia, where the average monthly salary is US$90 (?70) a month.

"A further escalation of Russian-Georgian relations can lead to a complete isolation of Armenia," Prime Minister Andranik Markarian said earlier this week.

Russia and Georgia have been locked in a bitter dispute following the arrest last week of four Russian military officers deployed in Georgia on spying charges.

Despite their release, Russia slapped its small southern neighbor with a range of sanctions, including suspending all air, sea, road, rail and postal links and thus paralyzing trade with economically dependent Georgia. Moscow also has cracked down on Georgian migrants and businesses in Russia.

Infuriated by Georgia's actions, several Russian politicians have already raised the prospect of cutting natural gas to Georgia, which would effectively block supplies to Armenia.

The Armenian ambassador to Georgia, Grach Silvanian, has suggested that Armenia might look for other ways of securing energy supplies to the resource-limited nation of 3.3 million people.

"In the future we could solve the problem by supplying gas to Armenia not from Russia via Georgia, but directly from Iran," Silvanian said.

Some Armenians also worry that the ongoing crackdown against ethnic Georgians living or working illegally in Russia could also spread to the Armenia diaspora.

"In Russia the anti-Georgian campaign could smoothly be turned into the anti-Armenian one," said Stepan Grigorian, head of the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation think tank. The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/