Tbilisi, Moscow at Odds over U.S.-Train Troops

Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili denied on January 17 that Georgia is bound by an agreement not to use troops, trained by the American military instructors, in case of hostilities in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia. However, Zourabichvili added, that Georgia will not use force to resolve these conflict.

The Russian Embassy in Tbilisi issued a statement on January 17 saying after the U.S.-funded Georgia Train-and-Equip (GTEP) program was launched, Moscow received assurances ?from the American and Georgian sides that these troops will not be used in Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts.?

However, Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili said, ?programs with the United States are bilateral programs. We do not intend to use force in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But [use of the Georgian troops] it is our sovereign right and Russia has nothing to do with our [the U.S.-Georgian] bilateral relations.?