Two officers of Russia, Artur Dvorkin and Igor Muzovatkin, were killed in the armed conflict of Georgia and Abkhazia in Tkvarcheli region September 20.
Photo: Valery Melnikov
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Not Abkhazia’s but Russia’s Officers Killed in Tkvarcheli
Two officers of Russia, Artur Dvorkin and Igor Muzovatkin, were killed in the armed conflict of Georgia and Abkhazia in Tkvarcheli region September 20. Despite that the killed had served in the Abkhaz army, the accident will further cloud position of Russia’s peacekeepers in the region.
The names of killed officers were the top secret for a few days. The only thing known was that they were amid the frontier guards, who, in Abkhazia’s interpretation, were attacked by Georgian military. According to Tbilisi, however, they were killed during the raid to Georgia’s territory.
But it emerged yesterday, that not the Abkhazian but Russian officers, Artur Dvorkin and Igor Muzovatkin, perished in Tkvarcheli that September 20. “They were the Russian officers but on contract service in the Abkhaz Army,” confirmed Ruslan Kishmaria, who is the envoy of Abkhaz president to the conflict area. “They were training recruits in the Tkvarcheli mountains.”
Never knew or saw those officers, Collective Peacekeeping Force Commander Sergey Chaban hastened to deny any acquaintance with the killed after the names were announced. But the direct links between one of the killed Russians and peacekeepers could be easily spotted. Half Colonel Igor Muzovatkin arrived in Abkhazia from Maikop, and he had led peacekeeping units in Abkhazia for the latest five to seven years.
Muzovatkin might have gone over to Abkhazia’s Army. And given the special attention of Tbilisi to peacekeepers, who are thought to be pro-Abkhazian, the leadership of Collective Peacekeeping Force has attempted to conceal the transfer. Besides, Georgia will probably use the accident at the UN General Assembly that has commenced in New York as an evidence of destabilizing role of Russian peacekeepers in the conflict area.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 25, 2007
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