TBILISI. June 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The Georgian-Russian cooperation on the Pankisi gorge problem should be beneficial for both states instead of aggravating the situation in the already troublesome area, Georgian Foreign Minister Irakly Menagarishvili told reporters on Wednesday.
"Of course, Tbilisi and Moscow should find mutually beneficial forms of cooperation in solution of the Pankisi problem," Menagarishvili said commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement that Georgia will fail to cope with Chechen rebels in the gorge without the involvement of Russian army and other law-enforcement agencies. According to Menagarishvili, "any foreign involvement in the program will inevitably bring about an increase in tensions in the area."
The minister recalled that during the first Chechnya campaign the Russian authorities asked Georgia to let Russian troops go through the Georgian territory to attack Chechen separatists from the south. The Tbilisi authorities rejected the proposal. According to Menagarishvili, "that is how Georgia avoided the shift of warfare from Chechnya to its own territory at that time."
The Georgian official said that he considered current contacts between Georgian and Russian secret services to be "quite effective."