Georgian Defence Ministry To Send Additional Force To Kodori Gorge

Georgia's Defence Minister David Tevzadze said today that an additional force will be sent to the Georgian-controlled territory of the Kodori Gorge to protect the local population. The General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces is working out a plan to ensure security of the territory of Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge controlled by the central authorities of Georgia, Georgia's Deputy Defence Minister Gela Bezhuashvili has told RIA Novosti. He said the General Staff is now considering which units of the Ministry of Defence should be brought into the Kodori Gorge. Currently, only one Guards unit, staffed with local residents, is stationed in the gorge. The Georgian defence minister said not long ago that, in keeping with the March 24, 1994 Moscow agreement on a cease-fire between Georgia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia and on the separation of the warring sides, a Guards unit is the only type of a military unit that can be stationed on the territory of the Kodori Gorge.