MOSCOW. Aug 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has urged the Georgian authorities to solve the problem of Chechen rebels in the Pankisi Gorge and to seal the Chechen strap of the Russian-Georgian border.
"The Russian Defense Ministry has not lost the hope that Georgia will understand Moscow's concern, assess the situation in the Pankisi Gorge, and make its law-enforcement agencies securely seal the Russian-Georgian border," Ivanov told journalists upon his return to Moscow on Tuesday. "Attention is still focused on these issues primarily because large groups of terrorists, which the Georgian authorities and law-enforcement agencies cannot do away with, are still present in Georgia, all of which has sharply aggravated the situation on the Russian-Georgian border," he said.
"The terrorists' plans are known to all. Meanwhile, the Georgian authorities' inconsistent position and inactivity are making us take preventive measures to protect the Russian state border," Ivanov said.