MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied reports on S-300 surface-to-air missile systems being sent to Abkhazia
"Everything becomes a pretext for propaganda buzz: the legitimate decision of Abkhazia to optimize the number of checkpoints on its border with Georgia, the bilateral agreement permitting citizens of South Ossetia to serve in the Russian army under individual contracts, and the false information on the alleged deployment in Abkhazia of an additional S-300 division, and the totally fantastic story about a Russian military motorcade going to Armenia through Georgia," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a report posted on its website.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that "this whole political performance was timed specially for the next round of the Geneva debate [on the South Caucasus] scheduled for March 28-29." "Apparently, Tbilisi is going to continue sabotaging the dialogue within the Geneva platform. That's why a confrontational and hysterical atmosphere is being formed in advance," the report said.
"In this regard, we would like to emphasize that the Russian delegation is going to Switzerland with the expectation of a calm and productive debate on vital issues relating to security and stability in the South Caucasus. We are calling our Georgian partners, all participants in the Geneva debate to that as well," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.