(Tbilisi, May 16, Civil Georgia) – Georgian ambassador to the Russian Federation Zurab Abashidze stated in the live interview to the Echo Moskvi radio station on May 16 that the Russian peacekeepers’ mandate should be extended and embrace whole Gali district of Abkhazia.
“The peacekeepers should control the entire Gali District so that Georgian IDPs could return there. In case the mandate of the peacekeepers is expanded, then the mandate will most likely be prolonged,” Abashidze said.
Russian peacekeepers are deployed in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone since mid-1994 under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States [CIS].
The Georgian population mainly populated Gali district of breakaway Abkhazia. Recently the Georgian authorities proposed to create international administration in Gali under the aegis of UN and CIS.
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