Russian forces are in control of Zugdidi, a town on the Georgian side of the Abkhaz ceasefire line, the Georgian authorities said.

“The so called Russian peacekeeping forces [stationed in the conflict zone], as well as Russia’s regular army units entered into Zugdidi and they now control the local police headquarters,” Shota Utiashvili, a spokesman of the Georgian Interior Ministry, said at 5pm local time on August 11.

He also said that in parallel the Abkhaz militias took control over Khurcha, the Georgian-administered village at the administrative border with Abkhazia. 

“Russians are now patrolling Zugdidi,” Utiashvili said. “There were no clashes there [in Zugdidi].”

President Saakashvili said while speaking at a news conference in Tbilisi at 5:15pm local time that the Russian troops “invaded” Zugdidi.

Zugdidi is within the 12-km security zone – a buffer zone between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides – which is monitored by the Russian peacekeeping troops stationed there under the CIS aegis.