Russian Railway Experts Arrive in Abkhazia
A team of 50 specialists from the Russian Railway arrived in Abkhazia, the Abkhaz news agency Apsnipress reported on June 5.
The team will work on the reconstruction of two railway bridges in the Ochamchire district.
A larger group of Russian Defense Ministry Railway Forces was sent to Abkhazia earlier to repair railway infrastructure on the section between Sokhumi and Ochamchire, triggering an angry response from Tbilisi. According to Abkhaz officials the Russian Railway Forces unit sent to Abkhazia consists of up to 400 people. Russia said they were all unarmed and the measure was aimed at purely humanitarian purposes, which had nothing to do with military infrastructure rehabilitation, as claimed by Tbilisi.
President Saakashvili said on June 5 that ceasing the construction of “military infrastructure” in Abkhazia was a Georgian precondition necessary to defuse tension. The president, due to meet his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in St. Petersburg later on Friday, said Russia also needed to withdraw additional troops from Abkhazia and rescind the April 16 decision on establishing official ties with breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia, if tension were to be reduced.
