(Tbilisi February 10, 2003. Civil Georgia) – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told the reporters in Munich at the security conference “situation in Pankisi gorge remains unchanged. There are uncontrolled territories in Georgia where the terrorist bases are located.”
Russian Defense Minister said that makeshift ricin laboratories have been found in Pankisi gorge.
He also stated that Russia does not intend any military operation in this part of Georgia. “We have no military plans regarding Pankisi gorge,” Ivanov added.
Georgian National Security Council Secretary Tedo Japaridze said on February 9, while speaking at the security conference in Munich that the Georgian security forces carried out successful anti-crime operation in Pankisi and destroyed terrorists’ facilities in the gorge.