NOVOSIBIRSK. Aug 23 (Interfax-AVN) - Hundreds of militants are staying in the Pankisi Gorge, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Friday.
"There are at least several hundreds of them there," Ivanov told reportes.
"We have sharply raised the issue of the need to eradicate the activities of terrorists and gangs in the Pankisi Gorge, which are not only comprised of Chechens," he said.
Militants will reportedly make new attempts to infiltrate Chechnya from the gorge, he said.
"Reports about such plans of the militants do not surprise me in the least," he said.
"We have learned who is staying there, what their number is, perfectly well," he said.
"A resolution was passed to reinforce the Russian border with Georgia along its entire length from Dagestan to Sochi," he said.
Asked about Georgia's raid in the Pankisi Gorge, Ivanov replied "we really want the measure to yield tangible results, rather than imitate activity," he said.
"We won't allow terrorists and militants to cross our border, bring death and destruction to Russian territory, and kill our citizens," he said.
Concerning monitoring by Russian military observers of Georgia's raid, Ivanov pointed out that "the issue was raised a long time ago, but the Georgian side's reaction was well-known."
"The OSCE mission is working there. But during the recent combat on the Russian-Georgian border, militants passed right under their noses. Their efficiency coefficient equals zero," he said.