TBILISI. Oct 1 (Interfax-AVN) - The command of the Russian troops group in the Trans-Caucasus is elaborating an appeal to the Georgian National Security Council and Georgian Parliament Chairman Nino Burdzhonadze asking them to help lift the blockade of a Russian vehicle convoy, the group's press service chief Colonel Alexander Lutskevich told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The convoy heading for Batumi from Tbilisi was stopped at the entrance to the town of Kutaisi on Monday.
"The incident was not provoked by Russian military, but rather by the Georgian Defense Ministry to which the group's command applied for five days asking for a permission to effect the transportation," Lutskevich said.
According to him, the Georgian military admitted themselves that they had been waiting for two days to to block the Russian convoy in the Svimonteti village located 12km from Kutaisi.
"The only legal act regulating the movement of Russian military convoys on the Georgian territory is a treaty signed by Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and Russia's then-prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in 1995. The treaty is not ratified but recognized by both parties. In accordance with the document the Russian group's commander should inform the Georgian party on the movement of convoys consisting of 20 or more vehicles," Lutskevich stressed.
He said he was hoping that the Russian Defense and Foreign Ministries would intervene on Tuesday and the incident would be over.
"If no logical solution to the problem is found, then the Georgian president and Defense Ministry will do whatever they want with the Russian military in the future. It is difficult to forecast further developments," Lutskevich noted.
He added that 39 Russian officers within the convoy were carrying no arms.
An official from the headquarters of the Russian troops group in the Trans-Caucasus told Interfax-AVN on the phone that on Tuesday morning no Georgian officials conducted any talks with them. Talks were held on Monday but produced no results.
Chief of the force's press service Colonel Alexander Lutskevich said on behalf of the Russian command on Monday that "the Georgian authorities' decision to stop the convoy once again demonstrated the policy pursued by Tbilisi, aimed at hampering the activity of the Russian forces based in Georgia and at isolating Russian military bases."
The Georgian Defense Ministry has become the executor of this policy, Lutskevich said. "Proceeding from political reasons and citing deterioration of relations between the two countries, it refuses to authorize movement of the Russian force's vehicles," he stressed.
"Strange as it may seem, Chechen rebels have lately had more freedom to move on the Georgian territory than Russian servicemen stationed in the country on the basis of corresponding treaties," the colonel noted.