A Russian delegation led by Igor Yunash, deputy head of the Federal Migration Service of Russia, left today for the Pankisi Gorge in eastern Georgia to meet with Chechen refugees living there.
?We will try once again to convince the Chechen refugees to return to Chechnya. We will offer new security guarantees to them,? Igor Yunash said before his departure on June 8.
The Russian delegation arrived in Tbilisi on June 7 to discuss repatriation issues with the Georgian authorities and the Chechen refugees living in Georgia.
Roughly 3,700 Chechen refugees, who fled from the second war in Chechnya in 1999, live in Pankisi at the moment.
Similar Russian delegations have already visited Georgia two other times ? last June and last September, in vain attempts to convince Chechen refugees to return to their native land.
The Chechens refrain from repatriating, claiming that their safety is not be guaranteed in Chechnya. The Chechen refugees instead, seek to resettle in a third country.