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Shevardnadze: Russian troops' deployment in Georgian region was calculated to destabilize situation By Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili ASSOCIATED PRESS April 15, 2002 -It was the latest surge of tension between Georgia and Russia over Abkhazia, which exercises de facto independence. The separatist government has appealed to Russia for protection, alleging that the U.S. military training of Georgia's ragtag army to fight terrorists could in fact help the Georgian forces to unleash a new offensive on their Black Sea province. -A United Nations-brokered protocol signed April 2 called for Georgian troops to withdraw by April 10 and for joint patrols by Russian peacekeepers and U.N. observers. The newly arrived Russian troops pulled out of the gorge Saturday, but not before Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze threatened -"If all of this had not ended peacefully, wide-scale military actions would probably have begun and ... led to the renewal of the conflict in Abkhazia," Shevardnadze said Monday during his weekly radio interview. TBILISI, Georgia - President Eduard Shevardnadze accused Russia on Monday of trying to destabilize his already volatile country by landing troops in a disputed region without prior agreement from Georgian authorities. Helicopters ferried about 80 Russian servicemen into the Kodori Gorge region of breakaway Abkhazia on Friday. The Russian government said it was an ordinary deployment of peacekeepers in the separatist region, which Russian troops have patrolled since 1994 following the 1992-93 war between Georgian troops and Abkhazian rebels. Georgia objected that it had not been notified in advance. It was the latest surge of tension between Georgia and Russia over Abkhazia, which exercises de facto independence. The separatist government has appealed to Russia for protection, alleging that the U.S. military training of Georgia's ragtag army to fight terrorists could in fact help the Georgian forces to unleash a new offensive on their Black Sea province. The Kodori gorge, divided roughly equally between Georgian government forces and Abkhazian separatists until this month, has been a particular flash point of tension. A United Nations-brokered protocol signed April 2 called for Georgian troops to withdraw by April 10 and for joint patrols by Russian peacekeepers and U.N. observers. The newly arrived Russian troops pulled out of the gorge Saturday, but not before Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze threatened that his troops would open fire on them. Shevardnadze rushed to the region on Friday to try to draw international attention to what he called a potentially explosive standoff. "If all of this had not ended peacefully, wide-scale military actions would probably have begun and ... led to the renewal of the conflict in Abkhazia," Shevardnadze said Monday during his weekly radio interview. Georgia frequently has accused Russian peacekeepers of favoring the Abkhazian separatist, but refrained from demanding their permanent withdrawal for fear of unleashing another war. Some 16,000 were killed in the war and 300,000 mostly ethnic Georgians forced to flee their homes. The refugees make up a vocal pressure group for Tbilisi to keep up pressure on the separatists. "If the Kodori gorge had been lost (last week), that would have provoked an explosion of agitation among the refugees, in society, and led to alarm in (other) regions," Shevardnadze said Monday. He expressed gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he credited with defusing the situation after the two presidents spoke on the telephone. [Of course] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
