Georgian Internal Crisis

[Feanor]

So first the Georgian MVD announced that plans for a coup d'etat have been discovered. This was immediately followed by a Georgian tank battallion declaring that it would no longer carry out orders from the Georgian command.

rian.ru/defense_safety/20090505/170012954.html
rian.ru/defense_safety/20090505/170010953.html

I'm assuming that quite a few tank units were lost in the war, and since no new MBTs have been imported (to my knowledge) this would mean that this tank battallion may represent a fairly major force within Georgia.

I'm wondering if anyone else here has heard anything.

 

[Chrom]

Most likely another Saakashvilli's step to decapitate army lead. Might be internal struggle betwen MVD (Police/internal security) and army. Very Stalin style.

 

[Feanor]

And a huge clash between ~2000 opposition protesters and MVD special forces by the MVD headquarters in Tbilisi.

Íîâîñòè NEWSru.com :: Ó çäàíèÿ ÌÂÄ â Òáèëèñè ñõëåñòíóëèñü îïïîçèöèîíåðû è ñïåöíàçîâöû, åñòü ðàíåíûå - ñ îáåèõ ñòîðîí

Georgian officials claim that the opposition tried to storm the building. Plastic and rubber bullets were fired, with many injured. The protesters threw rocks at the police officers, as a result some were injured. Opposition claims 60 people were injured. Another several thousand protesters have blocked a highway in Tbilisi.

This is really getting messy.

EDIT: http://lenta.ru/articles/2009/05/06/ge/

An excellent article. Discusses the absurdity of the situation. The supposedly rebellious troops were apparently not actually rebelling. The people who were arrested for the uprising claim they had nothing to do with it, and strangely enough the Georgian opposition (who has little reason to support pro-Russian rebels) agrees with them. And the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that Georgia is not accusing Russia for this uprising.

 

[IPA35]

How typical, people are pointing there finger at Russia, again...