Russian Paper: Moscow to ?Target Pankisi?

The Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, in its article ‘Pankisi under Target Again’ published on December 10, quotes an unnamed source in the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that Russia ?is ready to strike terrorist bases located in foreign countries.?

The paper assumes that these measure will involve, first and foremost, the Pankisi gorge, in the north-eastern mountainous region of Georgia–near the Russian border.

?This source in the Russian Defense Ministry was very insistent that this information be unveiled, supposedly in an attempt to deliver a message to the Georgian leadership,? the Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.

Russia?s Counter-Terrorism Operations Center in the North Caucasus alleged on November 29 that a group consisting of more than 200 Chechen rebels and foreign mercenaries is still based in Georgia?s north-eastern mountainous gorge of Pankisi.

But Georgian Ambassador to the Russian Federation Valerie Chechelashvili denied these reports and said that Pankisi gorge ?is controlled by Georgian security forces.?

In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia has a right to take pre-emptive strikes to “destroy criminals in their hideouts and, if necessary, abroad.”