BRYANSK. March 28 (Interfax-AVN) - In case Georgia commits aggression against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia will protect its citizens in those republics using all available means, including by bringing troops to them, said Alexei Ostrovsky, the head of the State Duma committee on CIS affairs and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party faction.
"In case Georgia resorts to military aggression against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia will take any measures to protect the population of those unrecognized republics, including military intervention," Ostrovsky said in Bryansk on Friday.
"If the Georgian leadership brings its troops to the territories of these unrecognized republics, the Russian Federation will do the same, because 90% of citizens of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are citizens of Russia," he said.
Asked on whose behalf he was making this statement, Ostrovsky replied, "First of all, this is my civic position, second, it is a position of a Liberal Democratic Party member, third, the head of the CIS affairs committee, and fourth, I am saying this based on information I receive from the people determining our country's foreign and defense policy."