Sergei Ivanov Blamed Georgia for Unfulfilling the High Level Agreement

(Tbilisi, May 19, 2003. Civil Georgia) – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov believes that Georgia is not fulfilling the agreement, concluded at the highest level.

Ivanov made such statement while commenting decision of the Supreme Court of Georgia, according to which the three Chechens, arrested by the Georgian Border Guards last year, will not be extradited to Georgia.

At the summit in Sochi on March 6-7, President Shevardnadze promised his Russian counterpart that Georgia would extradite all arrested Chechens. However, on May 16 the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that decision of the Prosecutor General of Georgia to extradite the Chechens was unjustified. The court’s decision is final and is not a subject to appealing.

Gelogaev, Alkhanov and Elkhajiev were arrested by the Georgian Border Guards together with other 10 armed persons near the Russian border last August. 5 of them were handed over to the Russian side last October without decision of the court.

The Russian side keeps demanding extradition of all Chechen prisoners, claiming that they are suspected in committing serious crimes on Russian territory.

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