Georgia Summons Russian Envoy Over Ganmukhuri Incident

The Georgian Foreign Ministry summoned Russian ambassador to Georgia, Vyacheslav Kovalenko on October 31, to express protest over the incident in Ganmukhuri.

In a statement on October 30, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said the incident was ?unprovoked attack? by the Russian peacekeepers on the Georgian police post in the village of Ganmukhuri, the Abkhaz conflict zone, wherein five Georgian police officers were beaten up.

?The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia condemns these arbitrary acts of adventurism by the Russian CIS peacekeepers in the strongest terms. It urges the Russian side to immediately cease reckless acts that raise tensions in the region and could lead to unintended consequences,? it said.

After the meeting, the Russian diplomat said that that the Georgian police officers provoked the incident.

?Peacekeepers were conduction a planned monitoring of the area. This person, [Georgian police] officer behaved aggressively and was threatening [to peacekeepers] and after his actions became life-threatening for peacekeepers, a decision was made to disarm him and other [Georgian policemen],? Kovalenko told reporters.

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