TBILISI, June 8 (AVN) - Uncontrolled armed formations are being established in Georgia's Pankiss gorge where over 6,500 Chechen refugees are staying, Leche Alisultanov, head of the so-called Chechen Exiles Initiative Group, said on Thursday.
Further developments in the area are likely to follow the Chechen scenario, Alisultanov told a news conference in Tbilisi. The gorge already sees signs of ethnic confrontation between Chechens, Ossetians, Kistins and Georgians, he said. Moreover, many Chechens staying in the area are members of guerrilla gangs who still bear arms and maintain contact with their brothers-in-arms in Chechnya.
"A timebomb is set in the Pankiss gorge," Alisultanov stressed. On behalf of his group, he called on the Georgian authorities to transfer the refugee camp to another district of the country.
Georgia's former defence minister Tengiz Kitovani has repeatedly claimed Chechen rebels are staying in the gorge. However Tbilisi has so far refuted these claims. It has not responded to Alisultanov's statement either.