Georgia Protests Deployment of Russian Peacekeepers in Sokhumi

Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili said that the Georgian side summoned the Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vladimir Chkhikvishvili on November 13 to express protest regarding the dispatchment of units of Russian peacekeeping forces to the Abkhaz capital of Sokhumi.

Russian peacekeeping troops are deployed at the administrative border between Abkhazia and rest of the Georgian under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

?Such acts by the Russian side [redeployment of peacekeepers to Sokhumi] are directed towards the escalation of the situation and can be viewed as an attempt to lead the ongoing developments up to an armed conflict,? the Georgian Foreign Ministry?s statement reads.

Salome Zourabichvili told reporters on November 13 that the sending of armored vehicles from the Gali district of Abkhazia, which lies in the zone of peacekeepers? responsibility, to Sokhumi ?was also confirmed by UN military observers.?

?The Russian peacekeepers explained this fact as a necessity to boost the security of the sanatorium in Sokhumi, where the Russian peacekeepers are deployed. But we think that the Georgian side should have been informed regarding this redeployment in advance,? Salome Zourabichvili added.