MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax-AVN) - It was a mistake for Tbilisi to deny the presence of Chechen rebels in the Pankisi Gorge, Parliament Speaker Nino Burdzhanadze said in an interview published by the Thursday issue of Obshchaya Gazeta.
"It was a mistake. We should have spoken out loud about rebels in the gorge if Georgian departments had such information," she said.
"No one has given the real number of rebels in the Pankisi Gorge. Russia exaggerated it, and we lowered it. An objective picture should have been drawn. I stand for being totally open about the existent problems," Burdzhanadze said.
A positive remark made by Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze on Chechen terrorist Ruslan Gelayev is also a mistake, the speaker said. She said she had not asked the president about reasons for his pronouncement, but "thought that he had made a big mistake."