Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Regarding Exacerbation of the Situation in the Kodori Gorge

Unofficial Translation from Russian

Information is coming in that on the night of July 24-25 a contingent of Georgian armed forces began to advance towards the Kodori Gorge. Moreover, Georgia, contrary to existing practice, had given no prior notice of its planned troop movements in the security zone of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict to the command of the Collective Peacekeeping Force (CPKF) of the Commonwealth of Independent States or to the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia. A convoy of 30 KamAZ trucks, 18 Niva and 4 UAZ off-road cars led by Georgia's defense and interior ministers passed through CPKF Observation Post No. 302, despite the attempts by peacekeepers to prevent the illegal actions of the Georgian side.

We share the concern and anxiety of the Abkhaz side over the growth of tension in the Kodori Gorge, the sending there of a large contingent of Georgian armed forces and the possibility of combat operations originating there, for this involves a serious violation of the Moscow Agreement on a Cease-fire and Separation of Forces of 1994. That area borders directly on Russian territory, and what is happening there affects Russian Federation security. We well remember that at the start of the 90s it was from the Kodori Gorge that Georgia launched combat operations against Abkhazia, and in 2004 an outright threat of invasion of Abkhazia again emanated from there.

We are closely following developments in the Kodori Gorge, which borders Russia and Abkhazia, and call upon the Georgian side to refrain from armed actions capable of provoking a new conflict in the region.

July 25, 2006