Sokhumi Insists on Peacekeepers’ Involvement in Kodori Monitoring

The Foreign Ministry of breakaway Abkhazia said on August 22 that Sokhumi will not allow monitoring of lower Kodori Gorge, which it controls, if the Georgian side refuses to allow Russian peacekeepers to monitor Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori in breakaway Abkhazia, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The Georgian side has announced that only UN observers will be allowed to monitor upper Kodori Gorge, and that Russian representatives can only participate in the inspection as members of a UN monitoring team.

The breakaway region’s Foreign Ministry said that Tbilisi’s refusal to allow Russian peacekeepers access to the gorge is a violation of the 1994 Moscow agreement on cease-fire and separation of forces which reads: “A regular patrol of the peacekeeping force and international observers shall be organized concurrently in the Kodori valley.”

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)