MOSCOW. March 1 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry believes that addition of military contingents from other CIS nations to the peacekeeping forces in the Georgian- Abkhaz conflict zone will contribute to efficient settlement of the conflict
The heads of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia decided to deploy the CIS collective peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone in 1994, Lieutenant General Valery Yevnevich, deputy commander of the Russian Land Forces in charge of peacekeeping troops, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday. However "Russia has had to bear the burden of peacekeeping in the region alone since then, and this includes financial burden, too," he said.
When the economic and political situation was escalating in Georgia, the presence of the CIS collective forces in the conflict zone was the factor that prevented a resurgence of warfare, the general stressed. The transfer of the peacekeeping forces into a truly collective military body "would not only decrease the burden that Russia is bearing in the region and lift accusations of prenotion from Russian peacekeepers, but also help increase the efficiency of efforts aimed at settlement of the conflict," he said.
The general recalled that the defense ministers of the CIS member nations agreed on Wednesday that it was necessary to include contingents of other CIS nations into the peacekeeping forces. The final decision on the matter is in the competence of the CIS heads of states, and the same is true for decisions on the extension of the forces' mandate and appointment of their commander.
"I do not rule out that all these issues will be settled at the CIS summit in Almaty," Yevnevich said.