Saakashvili: Kodori Shelling Provocation

Interior Minister Briefs Security Council on Kodori Incident

The headquarters of the Abkhaz government-in- exile in the village of Chkhalta was damaged in   the attack, Georgian officials say. Photo provided by the Abkhaz government-in-exile.

The shelling of villages in Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge in breakaway Abkhazia was “a very dangerous provocation with the long-sighted aim to undermine stability in Georgia and in the entire region,” President Saakashvili told an emergency session of the National Security Council on March 12.
 
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili briefed the Security Council session about some of the details of the incident. Video footage of statements made at the session by Merabishvili and President Saakashvili was disseminated by the President’s press office on Georgian television stations Monday evening.

Merabishvili said at least three army helicopters, apparently MI-24s, equipped with night-vision, entered Georgian airspace over upper Kodori Gorge from Russia’s North Caucasian Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, bordering with Abkhazia, at about 10:30 pm Tbilisi time on March 11.

“The helicopters remained in the airspace above Upper Abkhazia [the name used by Georgian authorities for the part of the breakaway region under their control] for at least an hour and a half, and during this period of time the helicopters fired at least 20 unguided missiles in the direction of the administrative and police buildings in the gorge,” Vano Merabishvili said. 

UN map of Abkhazia. Click on image to  enlarge.

Rockets were shot in direction of the villages of Gentsvisi, Azhara, Chkhalta, Kvapchari and Zima, the Interior Minister told the National Security Council.

He said that rockets fragments have been recovered by Georgian law enforcers.

Merabishvili also noted that at least four instances of violation of Georgian airspace over Kodori have been observed during the last six months, all of them occuring during the daytime.

“This recent incident was an organized military operation; this is what our experts say,” Merabishvili said.

“So far there have been instructions [for Georgian Interior Ministry forces in the gorge] not to open response fire in order to prevent provocations. But after yesterday’s attack I have ordered them to open fire if they are fired on,” Merabishvili added.

After briefing by the Interior Minister, President Saakashvili said that shelling of upper Kodori Gorge was “alarming, but not surprising.”

“We had information about possible provocations and these provocations are still anticipated in Upper Abkhazia,” he said. 

He said that he does not want “to make some kind of unilateral accusations,” but instructed Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili “to raise the issue in a very principled manner” with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. A phone conversation between the two ministers was held after the session of the National Security Council.

Saakashvili also said that “certain forces” carry out acts of provocation to derail Georgia from its way to development.

“We have a firm course towards the peaceful restoration of Georgia’s territorial integrity and economic development, and we do not need troubles and tensions,” he said.

The Georgian leader emphasized that nothing can stop Georgia from NATO integration.

“We have a good chance to be integrated into the Euro-Atlantic structures and no one should think that this kind of provocation will make us to give up this goal,” Saakashvili said.

The leading political parties in Georgia signed a pro-NATO declaration on March 12. Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said that this declaration is of special importance against the background of recent developments in upper Kodori Gorge.

Speaking at the National Security Council, Saakashvili also said that the “attack on Upper Abkhazia, which is an irritant for separatists and their patrons, is equal to an attack on Georgia.”

“And Georgia, united as one, will defend the population of this region; we have enough resources for this. Attempts to separate Georgia and these kinds of attacks will be repelled by well-organized and brave resistance. We will not let anyone undermine peace in Georgia and impose conflict on us,” Saakashvili added.

He also said that the recent incident in upper Kodori Gorge has confirmed that the Georgian authorities’ policy of modernizing the country’s armed forces is justified.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said on March 12 that it has requested the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) to investigate the shelling of upper Kodori Gorge and report thier findings as soon as possible.

Head of the Tbilisi-backed Abkhaz government-in-exile Malkhaz Akishbaia said that rockets were also fired from the Abkhaz controlled Tkvarcheli district.

But the Abkhaz side has strongly denied having any links with the incident. Russian Air Forces Col. Alexander Drobishevsky also dismissed reports by the Georgian authorities about the involvement of the Russian helicopters in the incident, calling the accusations a “provocation.”