MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Foreign Ministry refuted on Friday Georgian allegations that Russian paratroopers have landed in the Kodori Gorge.
The ministry's report quoting the Russian Defense Ministry as its source says that "in the context of implementing the Georgian-Abkhaz protocol of April 2 on the Kodori Gorge, the Collective Peacekeeping Force carried out the order of its command to set up a new checkpoint in the gorge where a unit of 78 men is deployed." According to the report, the checkpoint is stationed one kilometer west of the village of Kvemo-Azhara at the confluence of the Chkhalta and Kodori rivers.
Member of the Georgian parliament Ivery Chelidze alleged earlier in the day that eight Russian combat helicopters had airlifted paratroopers to the village of Azhara in the Kodori Gorge. The village is under Georgian control.