TBILISI, February 11 (AVN) - Russian border guards will have to guard the Chechen part of the Russia-Georgia border without any help from their Georgian colleagues in 2000.
Georgia's Border Guard Department authorities stated that the budget of their country for 2000 will not allow guarding the border at the necessary level.
Georgian border guards asked for 25 million lari (about USD12.5m) for their needs in 1999. The budget presupposed 12 million lari (about USD6m); and in reality the border guards received only a half of this sum.
The Finance Ministry decided to presuppose for the Border Guard Service in 2000 only 12.5 million lari (about USD6.25m) that hardly seems to be enough just for food supplies. Originally the Border Guard department authorities asked for 22 million lari (about USD11m) that is only one third of what they really need, given the extremely complicated situation on the border with Chechnya.