TBILISI. Jan 10 (Interfax-AVN) - A Russian delegation will come to Georgia soon to study possibilities of Chechen refugees' return to their motherland, Georgian Foreign Minister Irakly Menagarishvili told a news conference here on Thursday.
"The Russian Emergencies Ministry has received a corresponding order from President Vladimir Putin," Menagarishvili said. Putin and his Georgian counterpart Eduard Shevardnadze agreed to launch preparation for the return of refugees at the CIS summit in Moscow on November 30, 2001, he noted.
Chechen refugees started to flee to Georgia in autumn 1999. About 6,400 Chechens are staying in villages of the Pankisi gorge, according to official data. The Georgian Foreign Ministry believes that the return of refugees will help stabilize the situation in the volatile gorge close to the Russian border.