MOSCOW. Nov 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The Kodori Gorge is Abkhaz territory and "it will remain under Abkhaz jurisdiction at all costs," Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh told a news conference at the Interfax main office on Friday.
There were some 1,200 residents in the Kodori Gorge before Georgia's operation there, while the figure has now risen to 2,700 people as a result of the Georgian army and military units' presence, he said.
"What this has resulted in? Only in an escalation of the conflict. An ambassador from any country who visits the upper Kodori Gorge will no longer be welcome in Abkhazia," Bagapsh said.