SUKHUMI. April 19 (Interfax-AVN) - Lieutenant General Sergei Chaban, new commander of the Collective Peacekeeping Force in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict area, met with senior Abkhaz military authorities on Tuesday, the Collective Peacekeeping Force press-service told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Lieutenant General Alexander Sinaysky, CIS Defense Ministers Council Secretary, introduced the new peacekeepers commander to Abkhaz Defense Minister Soltan Sosnaliev and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Anatoly Zaitsev. The meeting was also attended by Lieutenant General Alexander Yevteyev, former commander of the Collective Peacekeeping Force, a press-service official said.
According to him, participants in the meeting, who exchanged opinions on the situation in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict area, highly estimated the role of Russian peacekeepers, tasked with maintaining peace and stability in the region.
Chaban visited Tbilisi on Monday to meet with Georgian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Levan Nikoleishvili. The Georgian Defense Ministry press-service told Interfax that they had discussed the situation in the conflict area and the peacekeeping mission.
"It was a scheduled meeting. We met with the chief of staff, and he met with us, nothing more to it," Chaban said after the meeting.
At the present time a total of 15 peacekeeping posts are deployed in the northern area of responsibility, and a total of 11 posts in the southern area of responsibility in Abkhazia. The overall strength of the Collective Peacekeeping Force amounts to about 1,200 men.
Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in the conflict area under the CIS auspices since 1994.