Tbilisi calls off inspection in Georgia-S. Ossetia conflict zone
17/11/2006 12:02 MOSCOW, November 17 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has declined to conduct a joint monitoring operation in an area where a Georgian air defense radar was discovered earlier, an assistant commander of the mixed peacekeeping force in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone said Friday.
Russia has led peacekeeping contingents in Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia since the bloody ethnic conflicts in the 1990s. But Tbilisi, which wants to regain control of the breakaway regions, has consistently demanded their withdrawal, accusing Russia of backing separatism.
"The Georgian side has refused to conduct a planned monitoring operation in the area 1.5 kilometers south of the village of Shavshebi, where a Georgian air defense radar was discovered," Vladimir Ivanov said.
He said the installation, which was deployed in the conflict zone in violation of existing agreements, is being guarded by Georgian military servicemen and military police.
On October 13, the UN Security Council approved a Russian-sponsored draft resolution on Georgia, extending the Russian peacekeeping mission in the region until April 15, 2007.
The tiny province broke away from Georgian rule in a bloody war in the early 1990s, but Saakashvili's government is determined to bring it and Abkhazia back into the fold.
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