TBILISI. Feb 15 (Interfax-AVN) - The Georgian authorities are aware that the situation in the Pankisi Gorge cannot be resolved by force and do not intend to concentrate all their efforts on this, Georgian State Security Minister Valery Khaburdzhania told Interfax on Friday.
"The problem of the territory has three aspects, in particular, localization and neutralization of criminal groups, return of Chechen refugees to Russia and implementation of a program of the territory's social and economic development," Khaburdzhania said.
According to him, the accomplishment of the complex task is not fully in the competence of the Georgian State Security Ministry. "The ministry, in cooperation with other law- enforcement agencies, is carrying out preventive operations at the approaches to the gorge and in nearby villages," Khaburdzhania said. The aim of those operations is to curb and prevent criminal manifestations which mainly escalate the situation in the area.
At the same time, he stressed that he considered cooperation between the Georgian State Security Ministry and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) "not only useful, but essential." This cooperation "is developing very fruitfully and there are good prospects for its further expansion," he said.
The Georgian state security minister does not consider the Pankisi gorge to be the "abyss of terrorism". "The appearance of separate rebels and armed formations on the territory is not a reason for such conclusions," he stressed.