TBILISI. Sept 23 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgia accused Abkhazia on Monday of concentrating military formations at approaches to the upper part of the Kodori Gorge that is controlled by the Georgian authorities.
"We have information that Abkhaz formations are approaching from all directions and concentrating manpower here, moreover, helicopters fly over the Adangi pass," Georgian Minister without Portfolio Malkhaz Kakabadze told Interfax-Military News Agency.
He said that "the Georgian authorities are planning to do their best to prevent an escalation of tensions in the Kodori Gorge."
"On Monday evening, the security in the Kodori gorge is to be discussed with Heidi Tagliavini, envoy of the UN secretary general to Georgia, who is to return from Sukhumi after holding a series of talks with Abkhaz leaders."
"If anyone wants to know what is going on in the Kodori gorge there is a time-tested method, I mean, regular joint patrols of UN military observers and servicemen of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone," Kakabadze said.
The Abkhaz Defense Ministry's press service categorically denies any concentration of troops in the area.
"Our armed forces are put on high alert as there is a possibility that guerrillas pressed out of Pankisi by Georgian troops may enter Abkhazia, but no concentration of forces or helicopter flights happen near the Kodori Gorge," the press service said.
The Abkhaz party believes that the situation in the Kodori Gorge is getting aggravated because Georgia does not implement agreements on security in the area. "In violation of all reached agreements, Georgia maintains armed formations in the Kodori Gorge such as local self-defense units and border guards numbering over 900 people," Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba has said.
"According to Abkhaz reconnaissance data, guerrilla groups pressed out of Pankisi have already emerged in Kodori, and we have to take measures to prevent their deeper penetration into Abkhazia," Shamba said.