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http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cu/Qgeorgia-russia.RstT_CSU.html Russian military convoy intercepted in Georgia TBILISI, Sept 30 (AFP) - A Russian military convoy of seven cars and a bus was stopped on its way to Russia's base in Batumi in western Georgia, Russian military officials said late Monday. Georgian chief of military staff, Dzhoni Pirzhalaishvili, said the convoy, which was carrying Russian officers to inspect the Batumi base, did not receive the necessary clearance from the Georgian defense ministry and would have to return to Tbilisi. But the convoy's 49 Russian troopers refused to return, insisting that they had done nothing wrong, Russia's military spokesman in Georgia Alexander Lutskevich said. "The blockade of the Russian military transport, which was launched over a month ago under the pretext of the Pankisi operation, continues," Lutskevich complained, adding that this was the third such detention in the past month. Tensions have recently flared between Russia and the Caucasian republic of Georgia, with Moscow accusing Georgia of harbouring rebels from the adjacent breakaway republic of Chechnya in southern Russia. Georgia launched a military sweep through Pankisi late last month in a bid to flush out Chechen rebels sheltering there, but the results -- a few suspected rebels arrested -- have only served to anger Moscow. Dissatisfied with paltry results, Russia has repeatedly threatened to launch a military operation in the gorge, a lawless area bordering breakaway Chechnya, where Russian troops have been battling separatist forces since October 1999. ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.civil.ge/cgi-bin/newspro/fullnews.cgi?newsid1033392640,83420, Civil Georgia October 1, 2002 High Level Delegation in Pankisi (Tbilisi, Civil Georgia, September 30, 2002) - Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson with the delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which visits Georgia, arrived today in Pankisi gorge. Georgian State Security and Interior Ministers are also accompanying the high level delegation to Pankisi gorge. The delegation met with the local population of the gorge and visited Georgian Internal Troops' checkpoints in Pankisi. The Georgian law enforcer officials informed the Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson and the delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly concerning the results of the anti-criminal operation. Last week Georgian Interior minister Koba Narchemashvili announced that the third and the most active phase of the operation is over. ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bf/Qus-russia-georgia.RImE_CSU.html -The United States Monday welcomed Georgian military action aimed at driving Chechen separatists out of its territory and into Russia. US welcomes Georgian military action in Pankisi gorge WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (AFP) - The United States Monday welcomed Georgian military action aimed at driving Chechen separatists out of its territory and into Russia. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the move to rid the remote Pankisi gorge of the rebels was an important initiative in efforts to ease tensions with Russia which had accused Georgia of harboring them. "Certainly we welcome their military efforts in the area of the Pankisi Gorge to rid the area of terrorists," he said. "We think this is an important initiative by the government of Georgia." Boucher said Washington would continue to urge Moscow and Tblisi to cooperate on the matter and avoid conflict. "We've encouraged them to try to work together to try to build a stable and peaceful relationship in this area and we'll continue to do that," he said. "We hope that they can find ways to cooperate on this issue." Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze earlier said Tblisi had resolved the conflict with Moscow Russia by expelling the rebels into Russia. But those comments came as Russian General Valery Moltenskoi, commander of Russian forces in the northern Caucasus region, accused Georgia of supplying ground-to-air missiles to the rebels. Russia has threatened to carry out military strikes against alleged Chechen bases in the Pankisi gorge which lies on the border with Chechnya. ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.civil.ge/cgi-bin/newspro/fullnews.cgi?newsid1033455257,15607, Civil Georgia October 1, 2002 US Allocates Funds for Russian Bases� Pull Out (Tbilisi, Civil Georgia, October 1, 2002) - The United States announced contributions to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Voluntary Funds for Georgia and Moldova, to support implementation and fulfillment of Russia�s Istanbul commitments on military withdrawal, the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State reported on September 30. Douglas Davidson, the deputy chief of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE reiterated the "profound disappointment" of the United States "with the lack of progress on the remaining Istanbul issues," but added that the U.S. contributions "will help to ensure that there are no financial barriers to timely and substantial progress." The United States will contribute $625,000 to the OSCE Voluntary Fund for Georgia. This is the first U.S. contribution to that fund, and it is intended to facilitate withdrawal of Russian forces from the bases at Akhalkalaki and Batumi. "We encourage all of the parties involved to take advantage of these contributions promptly and through concrete actions, and we urge other OSCE participating States to continue their support of efforts to fulfill the commitments made at Istanbul," Davidson said. At the 1999 OSCE Istanbul summit Russia took the responsibility to pull out its military bases from Georgia. ------------------------------------------------------- __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu 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 ==^================================================================
