Foreign Minister Briefs Diplomats on Kodori Incident

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili and Deputy Foreign Minister Batu Kutelia met with a group of foreign diplomats accredited in Georgia to brief them about an incident involving shelling in upper Kodori Gorge on October 25.

The Georgian side claims that three GRAD rockets were fired towards upper Kodori Gorge from the Abkhaz-controlled Tkvarcheli district. No one was injured. Tbilisi claims that the incident is a violation of the 1994 cease-fire agreement between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides.

Russian Embassy official Ivan Valinkin, who represents Russia?s interests in Georgia after Moscow recalled its Ambassador, was also among the invited diplomats.

?It was said [during the meeting between the foreign diplomats and the Foreign Minister] the Georgian military experts found that shots were coming from certain direction. This triggers a question: what were military experts doing in Kodori Gorge, where there should be no members of the military [according to the 1994 cease-fire agreement]?? Valinkin told reporters after the meeting.

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Merab Antadze said on October 25 that the Kodori incident was a provocation.

?Only the Russian side, which is interested in military confrontation, can benefit from provocations,? Merab Antadze told reporters.

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