Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (right) with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the presidential residence outside Moscow, September 8, 2008
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Russia Accused of Breaking Ceasefire
Georgian authorities intend to protest to the European Union about “violations of the Sarkozy-Medvedev agreement by Russia.” Tbilisi maintains that the agreement was violated in the village of Khurcha, near the border with Abkhazia, where one Georgian policeman died and two were injured in gunfire issuing from unknown sources. That was the third such incident in recent days. Georgian policemen have also been killed by sniper fire near the village of Karaleti, on the Georgian border with South Ossetia, where a Russian checkpoint is located, and on the bank of the Inguri River, which separates Georgia from Abkhazia.
Shota Utiashvili, head of the Georgian Interior Ministry information department, told Kommersant that “The village of Khurcha is administrative part of the Zugdidi District of Georgia, although it is located on the right bank of the Inguri River. Georgian police have been located there for many years now. On Sunday night, a diversionary group crept up to the village from the direction of the Russian checkpoint located nearby and it opened fire with snipers rifles, machineguns and grenade launchers. As a result, one policeman, 33-year-old Ramaz Kirtia, was killed and two more were injured. Monday morning, an antipersonnel mine blew up under two of our policemen 200 meters from the first attack. One of them was seriously injured.”
Ruslan Kishmaria, Abkhazian presidential representative in Gali District, countered that “The Georgian police post in the village of Khurcha is deep within Georgian territory more than a kilometer from the post of our border forces and the Russian peacekeepers. It was reported to us that screams were heard from the village in the evening and then shots were fired, including from grenade launchers. That was an internal Georgian clash and the Abkhazian side has no relation to it.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 23, 2008
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