MOSCOW. Jan 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia has urged Georgia to make up its mind about whether to extend the mandate of a Russian peacekeeping force in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, which expired on December 31.
The 1,700-strong Collective Peacekeeping Force of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), whose entire personnel is Russian, "is stationed in the zone of separation of the Georgian and Abkhaz sides along the Inguri river, and guarantees a regime of non-resumption of hostilities between them," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a release obtained by Interfax on Friday.
"Since October last year, the Russian Federation has repeatedly reminded the Georgian authorities of the need to make a decision on this problem, in order to solve it within normal legal limits and with the observance of official procedures accepted in the CIS."
"The ball is in Tbilisi's court," it says.