MOSCOW. April 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The Georgian army has no plans to launch military operations to return Abkhazia into Georgia's fold, Batu Kutelia, a Georgian deputy defense minister, said in an interview published in the Thursday issue of Vremya Novostei.
"This is irresponsible speculation. We are not planning anything of the sort. We are oriented toward a peaceful settlement," Kutelia said in comments on reports in Georgian media alleging that a military operation against Abkhazia might be launched on May 21.
At the same time, Kutelia was critical about the level of combat readiness of the Abkhaz and South Ossetian armed forces. "The level of the Abkhaz armed forces is not high. Exercises there are conducted under Russian military instructors' guidance. Russian officers occupy high positions in both the Abkhaz and South Ossetian defense ministries. Exercises require hardware and ammunition, and this also goes there from Russia," Kutelia said.
Georgia still has certain questions to Russia regarding the Gudauta military base. "The issue of the bases has not been settled as long as the Gudauta base is functioning. Russia does not wish to close it down and does not display political will to comply with the 1999 OSCE Istanbul summit's decisions. This base is used not only by Russian peacekeepers. There are air defense systems and hardware not belonging to the blue helmets there," he said.
Georgia will spend about $700 million on its armed forces in 2008, Kutelia said.