First Deputy Defense Minister, General-Colonel Alexander Kolmakov
Photo: Valery Levitin
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Russia Not to Pull Peacekeepers Out Of Abkhazia
Russia has no plans to withdraw peacekeepers from Abkhazia, First Deputy Defense Minister General-Colonel Alexander Kolmakov told reporters on Tuesday.
“Russia’s peacekeepers are on service in Abkhazia under the CIS mandate and we will be executing our mission no matter the calls from the NATO headquarters,” Kolmakov said. “We are the military, what decisions are made, we will execute them,” he specified.
“The relations with Georgia aren’t simple and it pains that, nowadays, the officials of that state cannot find any other ways to tackle their problems and are too engaged when raising the question of our peacekeepers’ presence in Abkhazia,” Kolmakov said.
“They have a raft of their own problems and finding an enemy from without is their favorite method. I think common sense, including amid Georgia’s leaders, will prevail,” the official added.
According to Georgia’s media, NATO spokesman James Appathurai declared yesterday that Russia’s peacekeepers should withdraw from the conflict area of Georgia and Abkhazia. But Appathurai denied that statement later that day, calling it the worst misrepresentation of information he had ever experienced.
Once a part of Georgia, breakaway and unrecognized Abkhazia has been seeking independence since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its efforts gained momentum after the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.
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