2006 Kodori Crisis - Reactions

Reactions

With the start of the Georgian police operation, the Russian and de facto Abkhaz authorities expressed their concerns about the presence of the Georgian forces in the immediate neighbourhood of the conflict zone. The Abkhazian leadership assessed any infiltration of the Kodori Gorge by Georgia's armed units as a gross violation of the agreement on the ceasefire and disengagement of forces of May 14, 1994 and of the May protocol of 1998, according to which the Georgian side had assumed the obligation not to dispatch military in the gorge. Both Russian and Abkhaz officials warned on July 25 and July 26, that the use of force in Kodori might lead to a new conflict in the region. Sergei Bagapsh, the president of de facto Abkhazian government, made comments on the recent events in the Kodori Gorge and said: "If Georgian soldiers cross the border of Abkhazia, a new conflict may be launched, because Abkhazian soldiers will open fire in that case."

The Georgian authorities deny the accusations, saying, that the only force operating in the gorge are police and security services, that is not a violation of the previous ceasefire accords. They deny the allegations, that the Georgian forces are planning to continue their way into the Secessionist-controlled territories, reiterating, that Georgia plans to resolve the separatist conflicts through peaceful means. On July 26, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Secretary General of NATO, on his meeting with the Georgian premier, Zurab Noghaideli, also expressed his support to Georgia's stance to the problems in Abkhazia and its fellow breakaway republic of South Ossetia.