Tensions Defuse as Russian Peacekeepers Pull out from Village in Abkhaz Conflict Zone

Gigi Ugulava, the Governor of the western Georgian region of Samegrelo, which borders breakaway Abkhazia, said that an incident involving Russian peacekeepers deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone is now over, as the Russian servicemen have already pulled back from the Georgian village of Ganmukhuri in the Zugdidi district.

He said that tensions broke out in the conflict zone after some 40 Russian peacekeepers backed by seven infantry combat vehicles entered into the village of Ganmukhuri earlier on March 22 and demanded that the Georgian Interior Ministry’s troops stationed there surrender their arms.

“These peacekeepers returned back to their locations after we talked with the leadership of the peacekeeping forces,” Gigi Ugulava told Rustavi 2 television.

The Russian side explained that the peacekeepers’ raid in Ganmukhuri was aimed at monitoring the situation there. “According to the 1993 Moscow agreement no forces from conflicting sides should be deployed in the vicinity of the conflict zone. We entered into the village in order to check the legality of the presence of the Georgian Interior Ministry’s forces there,” RIA Novosti quoted an official from the Russian peacekeeping forces Col. Kazantsev.

The Georgian Interior Ministry deployed its special purpose units in the village of Ganmukhuri in January, after the village was raided by an unknown armed group.

A brief detention of four Russian peacekeepers by Georgian law enforcers in Ganmukhuri on March 21 preceded this incident. They were released later on the same day.