‘We Hope to Avoid War’ – State Minister

State Minister for Reintegration, Temur Iakobashvili, said: “We think that there still is a resource for resolving everything through peaceful means. Russia is doing its best to reduce this chance, but we hope that we will manage to avoid the war.”

He said that Russia’s decision to increase level of its peacekeepers in the Abkhaz conflict zone was “illegal.”

“The [peacekeeping] contingent should be increased based on the agreement with the Georgian side. Sending only a notification to us [about plans to increase number of troops] does not mean [Tbilisi’s] consent,” Iakobashvili said. “This issue has not been agreed. Therefore, it is illegal… We hope that the international community will say its word and will also take concrete actions, which will prevent Russia from implementing its intentions.”

MP Givi Targamadze, the chairman of the parliamentary committee for defense and security, said on April 29 that Russia’s decision to unilaterally increase number of its troops in the conflict zone amounted to military intervention.

He said that diplomatic efforts were underway to resolve the situation and expressed hope that the international community would respond adequately.

MP Targamadze, however, also said: “Georgian armed forces are in full combat readiness to repeal any possible intervention.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense said on April 29 that the Georgian side’s “provocative acts” against the Russian peacekeepers, as well as the deployment of additional Georgian troops in the conflict zone had forced it to increase the number of its peacekeepers in the Abkhaz conflict zone. It did not specify the numbers involved, but said they were within the limits set by “international agreements in the frames of decisions of the Council of leaders of CIS member-states.”

August 22, 1994 decision of CIS head of states reads that number of peacekeepers in the Abkhaz conflict zone should be 2,500-3,000.