Military

DATE=04/12/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=GEORGIA: TENSIONS (L)

NUMBER=2-288645

BYLINE=BILL GASPERINI

DATELINE=MOSCOW

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Tensions have risen sharply between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia after Russian troops landed in a gorge in western Georgia. Georgia has demanded that Moscow withdraw the soldiers, who say they are part of a peacekeeping mission.

TEXT: Russian helicopters ferried the heavily armed troops into the Kodori Gorge in what the Russians say is part of an agreement signed with Georgian officials recently.

But Georgian officials say that only unarmed troops were supposed to be deployed as part of an ongoing peacekeeping mission in the region.

Now Georgian military officers are threatening to fire on the Russians unless they quickly withdraw.

Outraged Georgian lawmakers demanded that Moscow pull its soldiers out immediately, and Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze flew into the gorge to assess the situation for himself.

He says he may ask that Russian peacekeepers be pulled out of the region entirely.

A peacekeeping force partly under United Nations auspices has patrolled the region for almost nine years, ever since Georgia lost a war with separatist rebels in the Black Sea region, known as Abkhazia.

Georgia says the Abkhaz rebels received large amounts of Russian assistance during the war.

Relations between Russia and Georgia have been tense ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago.

Russia has long accused Georgia of helping rebels from Chechnya, the war-torn region just over the border in southern Russia.

The Russian deployment comes just as a contingent of U.S. military instructors is due to arrive in Georgia to provide counter-terrorism training to Georgian troops.

The Abkhaz and many Russians are against the arrival of the U.S. forces, saying this may help Georgia try to regain Abkhazia.(Signed)

NEB/BG/SAB