COMMITTEE OF GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT CONFIRMED INFORMATION ABOUT STATIONING OF UNCONTROLLED ARMED GROUPS IN GEORGIA

The Chairman of the Georgian parliament's commissions for defence and security Grigoriy Baramidze confirmed information saying that an armed group of 400 persons are stationing presently on the Georgian territory. Some of these gunmen are Georgian citizens; the others can be representatives of the Northern Alliance, Baramidze said.

He did not excluded that the group is operating under the instruction of the Russian special services "with a provocation goal in mind to inveigle Georgian into the all Caucasian war". In this light the parliamentarian expressed concern over the possible escalation of situation in Pankiss gorge as well. The gorge lies along the Chechen part of the Georgian-Russian borders. According to the chairman the situation along the border is stable presently.

In his turn, the Foreign Ministry of Georgia stated that it does not possess any reliable information on beginning of armed operations in Abkhazia. He check out information of the Russian mass media saying that Chechen and Georgian combatants allegedly started hostilities in Abkhaz territory. The combatants allegedly enter the region from Kondor gorge. Still there are no comments of the Russian side regarding the statement by the Georgian parliamentarian. However, it is noteworthy that Moscow has noted repeatedly that such statements of the Georgian politicians are groundless, and that they complicates dialog between the both states.