TBILISI. Feb 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgian troops will pull out of the Kodori gorge only after the local population is offered absolute security guarantees, spokesman for the Georgian Foreign Ministry Kakha Sikharulidze told a Friday briefing.
He said such security guarantees should be given primarily by the leadership of Georgia that will create conditions for the stage-by-stage withdrawal from the gorge. At the same time he said that the UN and international community should also offer guarantees.
Sikharulidze thinks that the withdrawal also depends on the change in the mandate of the peacekeeping force in Abkhazia that is responsible for peace and stability in the conflict zone.
The day before, envoy of the UN secretary general to Georgia Dieter Boden told reporters that Georgia had announced readiness to start the withdrawal process.