Russia boosts troops in Abkhazia

2008-08-11 09:47

Moscow - Russia is preparing to deploy 9 000 troops to bolster its forces inside the separatist Georgian region of Abkhazia, Interfax news agency reported, citing a military spokesperson.

"The group is based on a subdivision of paratroopers. It consists of more than 9 000 troops and more than 350 armoured vehicles," Alexander Novitsky, a spokesperson for Russia's peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia, was quoted as saying.

"The strengthening of the peacekeeping contingent has been ordered to prevent a repeat of the situation which happened with Russian peacekeepers around Tskhinvali," the capital of the disputed South Ossetia region, he said.

Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in Abkhazia since 1994 following a conflict where the coastal region broke away from Tbilisi's control.

The peacekeepers operate under a mandate from the Commonwealth of Independent States, a Moscow-dominated group of 12 ex-Soviet republics including Georgia, alongside a UN observer mission.

Georgia views the peacekeepers as part of a creeping effort by Moscow to annex the region and has called for their expulsion.

- AFP