VLADIKAVKAZ. March 25 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday rejected media reports that units of the 58th joint-arms army in North Ossetia had been put on high alert due to a Georgian army attack on Abkhazia allegedly scheduled for mid- April.
On-duty officer of the army Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Lyalchenko told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday that "no orders on the matter have been given to us by the Defense Ministry or General Staff." He specified that "planned combat training is underway in the army's units, means and forces are serving in the regular mode."
Lyalchenko added that "means of the 58th army have not registered any preparations of the Georgian Armed Forces for a military operation in Abkhazia."