GUDAUTA, Abkhazia, May 24 (AVN) - The role of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone will increase considerably due to the withdrawal of the 50th Russian military base from Gudauta, Major General Nikolai Sidorychev, commander of the forces, said on Thursday.
The situation in the area controlled by the forces has been aggravating recently, Sidorychev told the Military News Agency. This fact is proved by the increase in the number of small combat groups of the so-called irreconcilable guerillas and criminals who penetrate to the security zone posing as refugees returning to their native villages. Most of their victims are peaceful residents of Abkhazian and Georgian villages.
Sidorychev Russian Airborne Commander Georgy Shpak at the 50th base on Thursday and reported on the forthcoming aggravation of the situation. The meeting was attended by Major General Vladimir Zaichenko, first deputy chief of the Defence Ministry main housing operation department, Lieutenant General Vladimir Shulikov, deputy airborne commander for armament, and Major General Yevgeny Salilov, commander of the 106th airborne division.
The situation is the worst in the Gali district and Kodori gorge where military service is carried out by a paratrooper battalion under command of Major Gennady Adashkin. "Servicemen have managed to prevent all attempts at transforming the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict into a straight armed confrontation so far," Sidorychev stressed.
Efforts of the Collective Peacekeeping Force are praised by authorities and residents of both banks of the Inguri River which divides Georgia from the self-proclaimed Abkhazian Republic, Sidorychev added.