Russia's Foreign Ministry Accuses Georgia of Unwillingness to Settle Conflict with Abkhazia Peacefully

Recently, reliable sources have been reporting the flights of Georgian military helicopters over the Kodor and Chkhaltinsky ravines. According to Russia's Foreign Ministry's information, most of the choppers are American Iroquois supplied to Georgia under the program of fighting international terrorism and in no way intended for use in the conflict zone.

According to the Georgian-Abkhazian 1994 cease-fire agreement, there must be no Georgian military presence in the area, and so, Russia's Foreign Ministry points out, ' the flights constitute a gross violation of that and other agreements signed between Tbilisi and Sukhumi concerning the Kodor ravine'.

Also, further in its statement, the Russian ministry emphasises that, 'Georgia's actions are in violation of the resolutions of the UN Security Council issued to the effect that the 1994 cease-fire agreement must be strictly adhered to. The last time the UN Security Council issued a statement to this effect as recently as on July 29, 2002'.

Russia's Foreign Ministry believes that 'Such actions on the part of Georgia seriously complicate the situation in the zone of Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, undermine trust between the parties involved, and create new obstacles in the way of any possible settlement... There is an impression that Georgia wants no peaceful settlement of the conflict'.