Russia Denies Base in Abkhazia

A Russian Defense Ministry official has rejected Tbilisi’s allegation that Russian troops were constructing a military base in breakaway Abkhazia.

An official from Georgia’s Abkhaz government-in-exile, Tornike Kilanava, claimed on June 15 that the base was located in the village of Agubedia in the Ochamchire district. He told Georgian TV that Russian troops had already deployed military hardware and anti-aircraft guns at the site.

Alexander Drobishevsky, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, told Interfax news agency on June 15 that the report was yet more disinformation “aimed at discrediting the Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone.”