Georgian Official Says Russia Calls for War

(Tbilisi, Civil Georgia, August 2, 2002) – Georgian President’s spokesman Kakha Imnadze said at the news briefing on August 1 that the statement of the member of the Russian upper chamber of the Parliament Mikheil Margelov “is the calling for war”.

Mikheil Margelov, Chairman of the Russian Federal Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, stated that the Russian upper chamber of the Parliament will support the President in case Vladimer Putin will appeal the senators to dispatch troops to Georgia’s troubled Pankisi gorge, where allegedly Chechen fighters and international terrorist groups are harboring.

Georgian President’s spokesman said that this kind of statements could be the preparation for the possible incursion from the Russian side and carrying out military operation in Pankisi gorge. Georgia is categorically against of Russia’s military involvement to solve the Pankisi problem.