Georgia to Pull Out Troops from Kodori within the Week

(Tbilisi, April 2, Civil Georgia) – Georgian and Abkhazian sides signed a protocol on April 2 on withdrawal of troops from Kodori gorge.

Georgian Defense Ministry is to pull out its units from upper Kodori till April 10.

Abkhazian side is to withdraw military hardware and armed units from lower Kodori and Tkvarcheli district of breakaway Abkhazia.

UN special envoy to Georgia Dieter Boden, commander of Russian peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone Aleksandr Evteev, Georgian Special Affairs Minister Malkhaz Kakabadze and Deputy Defense Minister of unrecognized Abkhazian Republic Givi Agrba signed a protocol.

Implementation of the protocol provisions will be observed by the UN mission to Georgia and Russian peacekeeping forces, deployed in the conflict zone.

Georgian Defense Ministry dispatched approximately 350 soldiers to Kodori gorge, the only part of breakaway Abkhazia controlled by the Georgian government, last October when the armed clashes between Georgian-Chechen guerrillas and Abkhazian fighters occurred.

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