Tbilisi Wants UN to Verify Level of Russian Troops Increase

The Georgian authorities have requested the UN observers on the ground to help determine to what extent Russia has increased level of its peacekeeping troops in the Abkhaz conflict zone.

“We have sent a letter to the UN and the ambassadors from the Group of Friends, requesting them to help us clarify how many peacekeepers have entered the Georgian territory,” Temur Iakobashvili, the state minister for reintegration, told Mze TV on May 2. 
UN, however, said at this point it was not possible to verify number of extra troops sent by Russia to Abkhazia. UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) has 133 military observers on the ground monitoring the conflict zone and upper Kodori Gorge to verify the observance of the 1994 agreement on ceasefire and separation of forces."

“UNOMIG has indeed observed movements of CIS personnel and equipment on both on train and road from Sokhumi to conflict zone,” U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said on May 1. “Such movements were observed on April 29, when the Russian decision was announced and yesterday CIS [peacekeeping troops] notified UNOMIG of the increase without specifying troop numbers. At this point it is difficult to say whether these movements will continue and how many more soldiers and equipment will arrive. So at this point UNOMIG can not confirm number of CIS [peacekeeping] troops deployed.

She also said that all actions by the parties and other countries should comply with UN Security Council resolutions affirming the support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Russia claims that the increase of its troops, deployed in Abkhazia under the aegis of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), is within the limits set by the August 22, 1994 decision of CIS heads of state, which reads that the number of peacekeepers in the Abkhaz conflict zone should be 2,500-3,000.

Officials in Tbilisi, however, say that Russia increased its peacekeeping contingent illegally, without Tbilisi’s consent.

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