Chechen rebels based in Georgia’s northern Pankisi Gorge must leave, Georgian President Eduard Shevarnadze said late on Wednesday after tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow escalated over the Chechen military presence in the area.
”Armed Chechens have nothing to do in Chechnya,” the Itar-Tass news agency quoted the Georgian president as saying. ”They know that this is their last summer in Georgia and that they will have to leave Georgian territory by the fall,” Shevardnadze added.
Russia’s foreign ministry earlier on Wednesday summoned Georgia’s ambassador to Moscow after accusing Tbilisi of failing to prevent a hostile assault on Russian territory.
The ministry said in a statement that Ambassador Zurab Abashidze had been handed a statement protesting Georgia’s inability to crack down on suspected Chechen guerrilla bases in the Pankisi gorge.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov earlier accused Georgia of hostile actions after a group of guerrillas allegedly based in Pankisi attacked Russian troops in Chechnya, killing at least eight border guards.
Ivanov’s accusations followed Georgian claims on Tuesday that Russian forces had bombarded the Pankisi gorge, allegations that met with denials in Moscow.
The United States late on Wednesday stated its firm support for Georgia’s territorial integrity, following Tbilisi’s accusations. ”The United States strongly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia. We would therefore be seriously concerned to learn of any violations of that sovereignty,” State Department deputy representative Philip Reeker said.
Separately on Wednesday, the Georgian defence ministry accused a group of 10 to 15 Russian paratroops of staging an illegal two-day incursion into Georgia’s volatile Kodor gorge in the northwest of the republic, near its separatist Abkhazia province.
Russian defence officials said they were unaware of any such incident.
Georgia’s claims of the Russian attacks followed Moscow’s accusations that the Tbilisi leadership was sheltering thousands of guerrillas in the lawless Pankisi gorge.
In a move which has ruffled Moscow’s feathers, the US army began a military training program in May aimed at preparing some 2 000 Georgian soldiers for anti-terrorist operations in Pankisi, where al-Qaida members are suspected to be hiding out.
Georgia has had strained relations with its vast neighbour Russia in recent years, and sparked further hostility from Moscow after expressing an interest in joining the US-led Nato alliance. – Sapa-AFP