Abkhaz Leader Warns of ‘Tough Measures’ in Kodori
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 27 Sep.'06 / 11:54

Tbilisi’s policy in Kodori Gorge is designed to provoke the Abkhaz side to undertake “tough measures,” Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh told Interfax news agency on September 27.

He said that President Saakashvili’s decision to rename the gorge Upper Abkhazia is yet another “provocation” and “stupid decision.”

Bagapsh also denounced Tbilisi’s intention to organize a trip to the gorge for foreign diplomats as a provocation and said that foreign diplomats “should respect early achieved agreements, including the [1994] Moscow agreement.”

The Abkhaz leader said that if foreign diplomats go to Kodori they should talk directly to the government-in-exile instead of Sokhumi, in which case "we will have to revise the negotiating format.”

The Abkhaz government-in-exile, which is currently based in Tbilisi, plans to officially move to the Tbilisi-administered upper Kodori Gorge.

Sokhumi denounces the government-in-exile as illegitimate, puppet authorities.

“This is one more provocation aiming to force Abkhazia to take tough measures in the Kodori Gorge and to escalate tensions in the region,” Bagapsh said.

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