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Roundup: Russian, Georgian Diplomats Discuss Abkhaz Situation
Georgian Foreign Minister Irakly Menagarishvili held a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov on the situation in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone Wednesday evening.
Russian report from Georgian capital Tbilisi quoted Menagarishvili as saying that the two ministers agreed to take measures to relieve the increasing tension in the region.
Menagarishvili said he suggested a joint investigation into Tuesday air bombing at the Kodori gorge in Abkhazia and received official consent from the Russian side.
Georgian Ambassador in Russia Zurab Abashidze on the same day was invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry for the Abkhazia issue.
Diplomatic sources told Interfax that the ambassador was invited to the office of Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchinin, who handles affairs with the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Details of the meeting were not available.
Georgian Foreign Ministry on earlier Tuesday sent a protest note to Russia on Tuesday's bombing, which it hinted was done by Russian military planes.
"The Georgian side regards the violation of its airspace by foreign warplanes and the bombing of the Kodor Gorge as a crude encroachment on the country's sovereignty and an attempt by certain forces to derail the process of the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Abkhazia," read the document.
But the self-proclaimed authorities of Abkhazia, a breakaway republic in western Georgia, said the bombing was conducted by Georgian airforce in a bid to provide air cover to a group of Chechen and Georgian militants in their fight with Abkhaz forces.
Both Georgia and Russia denied the allegations but expressed concerns over the situation there.
Russian Defense Minster Sergei Ivanov said Russia was greatly concerned with the escalation of the Abkhaz situation and has taken urgent measures to strengthen its borders with Georgia.
He warned against a double-stand on anti-terrorism struggle, saying the attempt to transfer militants from one to another area will lead no result.
Situation in the Abkhazia become increasingly tense since a group of hundreds of Chechen rebels and ethnic Georgian fighters invaded the Kodor Gorge region and fought with Abkhaz forces in recent days. Abkhazia said the group comes from Georgia, but Tbilisi denied any involvement in reported skirmishes there.
Abkhz on Wednesday reported continuous fight between the two sides and said a new group of Georgian and Chechen militants numbering from 500 to 700 people has entered the mountainous regions of Abkhazia from Georgia to try to free terrorists blocked by Abkhaz troops at the Kodori Gorge. Georgia regarded those reports were exaggerated, saying a total of 200 Georgian guerillas and "a group of North Caucasus representatives" are not on Abkhaz territory.
"Not all of this group is taking part in the clashes, as it divided into several groups engaged in routine guerrilla warfare," Georgian State Security Minister Vakhtang Kutateladze said.
Dieter Boden, the U.N. secretary-general's envoy in Georgia, called on a soonest resumption of peace talks in the conflict zone, saying that the current clashes between Abkhaz armed forces and Georgian-Chechen rebel groups could evolve into a large-scale conflict between Tbilisi and Sukhumi.
"Only the resumption of peace negotiations can prevent this. I feel this will happen, if we manage to abate the current tensions, " the envoy told Interfax in Abkhaz capital Sukhumi.
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