SUKHUMI. March 4 (Interfax-AVN) - The State Security Service of the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia "has obtained irrefutable information that Georgia is preparing for a war against Abkhazia," says an official statement of the service obtained by Interfax on Monday.
"The declarations of representatives of the Georgian leadership about preparations with U.S. assistance for an operation to restore order in the Pankisi Gorge are only a part of a campaign of misinformation to cover up a planned large-scale operation against Abkhazia in which American formations may also be involved," the document says.
For the past four years, Western specialists have been training Georgian special units "that already participated in combat operations against Abkhazia in 1998 and in the Kodori Gorge of the republic in 2001," the statement says.
"In fact, Georgia's refusal to withdraw its military formations from the Kodori Gorge and to set up patrols in the area with the help of CIS peacekeeping units and UN military observers shows that the region is considered as a beachhead for launching combat operations against Abkhazia," the State Security Service said.
"Georgia sabotage and reconnaissance parties have scaled up activities in the Kodori Gorge to find the best routes. A U.S.- made helicopter of the Georgian Air Force was registered in the area on March 2, 2002," the statement says.
"One of the purposes of the planned operation is to undermine the Russian peacekeeping mission and create conditions for the deployment of an international force under U.S. or UN auspices in Abkhazia," the statement says.