Georgia Renews Criticism of Russian Peacekeepers

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said on May 3 that the Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in the Abkhaz conflict zone under the aegis of the CIS ?were extorting? money from the local Georgian population in the Gali district of Abkhazia.

In a separate statement issued on May 2 the Georgian Ministry of Defense said that ?three drunken Russian peacekeepers? wounded a local resident of Gali and beat-up two men on May 2.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said that the Russian peacekeepers patrolled the Gali district on April 29-30 and checked local residents IDs – requiring that those checked present the so called ?Form ?9? which is issued by the authorities of the breakaway region and is needed for free movement from Abkhazia to the rest of the Georgian territory.

“The Russian ‘peacekeepers’ were extorting GEL 10 from those people who did not have this document and who were moving from Gali to Zugdidi [at the administrative border with Abkhazia, in the Samegrelo region]. This fact proves once again that the Russian ‘peacekeepers’ are systematically violating human rights,? the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

The Russian side has not yet commented on these allegations by the Georgian side.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)