• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Georgian troops moving toward Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia- TV

RIA Novosti

25/07/2006 12:41 SUKHUMI, July 25 (RIA Novosti) - An armored convoy with Georgian troops is moving toward the Kodori Gorge, the only Tbilisi-controlled area in the northwestern breakaway region of Abkhazia, Georgian television company Imedi reported Tuesday.

About 500 servicemen as well as Defense and Interior Ministers Irakly Okruashvili and Vano Merabishvili gathered in Georgia's northwest Tuesday morning, Imedi said, adding that representatives of Georgian television companies were not allowed to enter the Kodori Gorge and the Defense Ministry had refused to comment on the events.

On Sunday, Emzar Kvitsiani, a former presidential envoy to the Kodori Gorge, said Defense Ministry troops were going to enter the area, which is the de facto border between Georgia and Abkhazia, on July 27. He said they would seek to disarm former members of the Hunter border guard battalion, which was formally disbanded in 2005, though most members refused to lay down their arms.

Georgia officials have said there would be no talks with the ex-envoy in the area, although he has threatened to stage mass protests and seek a dissolution of parliament.

Sergei Shamba, the foreign minister of unrecognized Abkhazia, said his ministry had sent a message to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the deployment of Georgian troops in the gorge.

He said Georgia had violated the 1994 Moscow ceasefire agreement by deploying military hardware and troops in the Kodori Gorge, which is about 20 miles from the self-proclaimed republic's capital, Sukhumi.

Georgia and Abkhazia signed a protocol in 1998 under which Georgia assumed commitments to prevent any armed units from entering Abkhazia, with Russia and the UN being guarantors of this agreement, Shamba said.

He said Abkhazia had urged Russia and the UN to condemn Georgian actions that could lead to an escalation of tensions in the region.

"Georgia is taking targeted and consistent steps on a unilateral withdrawal from the negotiating process," he said. "Responsibility for the consequences of these actions lies completely on Georgia."