Tbilisi Accuses Moscow, Sokhumi of Shelling Kodori
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| Headquarters of the Abkhaz government-in-exile in the village of Chkhalta was damaged in attack, official say. Photo provided by the Abkhaz government-in-exile. |
The Russian and Abkhaz sides have already denied the allegation as a provocation.
Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Levan Nikoleishvili said on March 12 that the Russian army helicopters entered into the Georgian airspace from the Russian Federation and opened fire on the villages in upper Kodori Gorge. He declined to comment on further details.
Head of the Abkhaz government-in-exile Malkhaz Akishbaia said villages of Azhara and Chkhalta were shelled from both helicopters and GRAD rockets fired from the Abkhaz-controlled Tkvarcheli district.
“This was an attempt to terrorize the local population and an attempt by the Abkhaz side to withdraw from the peace process,” Akishbaia said.
But Foreign Minister of breakaway Abkhazia Sergey Shamba told Imedi TV early on March 12 that the Abkhaz militiamen have nothing to do with the incident. He said it was “an ordinary, routine clash” between local militias, led by rebel warlord Emzar Kvitsiani and Georgian forces located in upper Kodori Gorge.
“These kinds of clashes have been occurring in the gorge time and time again; but it seems that in this recent case the exchange of fire was more intensive. Spring is coming and the [rebel militias] are expected to intensify their activities,” Shamba said.
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| UN map of Abkhazia. Click on image to enlarge the map. |
“We have no clear information about the events in the upper Kodori Gorge of Abkhazia. I can only say that the Abkhaz armed forces have not fired and our helicopters have not conducted any flights,” Sergey Bagapsh, the Abkhaz leader, told Interfax news agency.
He also said that instead of accusing the Abkhaz and Russian side, Tbilisi should better deal with the local population of the upper Kodori Gorge and rebel warlord Emzar Kvitsiani.
“We have warned for many times that tensions were expected in spring,” he said and added that as far as he knows UN observers and Russian peacekeepers are expected to arrive in upper Kodori Gorge on March 12 to look into the situation on the ground.
Georgian news agency InterPressNews reported that in an interview Emzar Kvitsiani has denied having links with the recent incident in upper Kodori Gorge.
Russia has also strongly denied reports that its army helicopters violated the Georgian airspace.
“The statements made by the Georgian authorities about shelling the villages of Chkhalta, Azhara and Gentsvisi in the Upper Kodori Gorge by a helicopter, which allegedly entered [into the Georgian airspace] from the Russian territory, is nothing but a provocation,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted spokesman for the Russian Air Forces Col. Alexander Drobishevsky as saying on March 12.
Main source of information about developments in upper Kodori Gorge is the Georgian government officials and no independent confirmation of reports is available.
Last October, GRAD rockets exploded near the village of Azhara. The Georgian side claimed that the rockets were launched by the Abkhaz side from Tkvarcheli.
UN observers who investigated the incident, however, reported that the rockets could not have come from behind the Abkhaz lines and said the rockets were fired from nearby hills.
Emzar Kvitsiani claimed responsibility for the October shelling of upper Kodori Gorge.
Meanwhile, a Georgian army helicopter MI-24 Hind crashed at 2:30 am local time on March 12 in the Dusheti District of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, about 50 kilometers away from Tbilisi killing three members of crew onboard.
Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Levan Nikoleishvili linked the incident with the events in Kodori, as he said that the helicopter was en-route to the western Georgia after the villages in upper Kodori were shelled. He said the crash was “apparently caused by bad weather conditions.”
He also said that the Georgian Defense Ministry troops, including its air forces, were on high alert after attacks on the villages in upper Kodori Gorge.
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