Peacekeepers deny increasing number of watch posts in Kodori
09/09/2006 15:19 SUKHUMI, September 9 (RIA Novosti) - The commander of the collective peacekeeping force in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict Saturday denied reports in Georgian media that the number of observation posts in the Kodori Gorge had grown.
General Sergei Chaban said Russian peacekeepers deployed in the gorge still had only two observation posts. He said they conducted routine monitoring of the lower part of the gorge together with UN military observers.
Chaban said that if Tbilisi agreed, Russian peacekeepers were ready to take part in monitoring the upper part of the Kodori Gorge, controlled by Georgia.
Russian troops remain in Abkhazia as part of a peacekeeping mission from the former Soviet republics, but Georgia has accused them of supporting the self-proclaimed republic's separatists.
The Kodori Gorge in northern Georgia marks the de facto border between Abkhazian and Georgian-controlled territory. The lower part of the gorge is controlled by Abkhazia, and the upper part by Georgia.
Georgia previously agreed to UN monitoring of the Kodori Gorge, but with a minimal Russian presence.
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