TBILISI. June 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The New Right faction in the Georgian parliament on Tuesday spoke of the need to increase the number of Georgian peacekeepers in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone.
"The Georgian peacekeeping battalion of the Joint Peacekeeping Force is not fully staffed," faction leader Pikria Chikhradze said.
She said that first the Georgian battalion was cut down to 150 people, now it has been reduced to one tenth leaving only 50 servicemen on it.
"If we won't have a combat capable peacekeeping formation in the conflict zone, Ossetians will continue provocations," she said.
Earlier Georgian parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze said that Tbilisi does not intend to send any reinforcements to the conflict zone despite the growth of tension.
"We wish to settle the problem by purely peaceful means," she said.
The Joint Peacekeeping Force comprises Russian, Georgian and Ossetian battalions each of which should consist of 500 servicemen.