TBILISI. March 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Chechen rebels and criminal formations based in Georgia's Pankisi gorge are getting arms and ammo from the 62nd Russian military base located in the town of Akhalkalaki in the Samtskhe-Dzhavakheti district, Georgian State Security Minister Valery Khaburdzania told reporters on Monday.
"The channels of arms supplies to Pankisi are different but Georgian authorities have serious grounds to think that some officials of the 62nd base are selling arms which later surface in the Pankisi gorge," the minister said
"According to reconnaissance data, arms trade involves Georgian citizens related to the 62nd base as well," Khaburdzania claimed. He added that a cache with unregistered arms and ammo had recently been found near Akhalkalaki, and that he had enough grounds to say that the arms had been taken from Russian military storehouses.
Khaburdzania said he had reported that and other facts to Nikolai Patrushev, director of the Russian Federal Security Service, who visited Tbilisi in late February.