MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax-AVN) - The conflict surrounding the Pankisi Gorge will no longer complicate relations between Georgia and Russia, Georgian Ambassador to Russia Zurab Abashidze said at a press conference at the editorial office of Rossiiskaya Gazeta in Moscow on Thursday.
"Centuries-old good traditions in the relationship between Georgia and Russia have been exposed to an extremely unnatural situation, they have become hostages of two conflicts - in Abkhazia and Chechnya, and Pankisi is a derivative of the Chechen conflict. The issue of Pankisi, in our view, can be removed from the agenda today, and it will not complicate Russian-Georgian relations any longer," he said.
The Pankisi Gorge is fully controlled by the Georgian law enforcement agencies, Abashidze said.
"Individual terrorists could be in the gorge, but there are no bandit formations there any more. Georgia has repeatedly claimed that any international delegations of inspectors and observers could come there and see it themselves - this would be not difficult, as that territory is not large, only two kilometers wide and eight kilometers long," the ambassador said.
"The Georgian law enforcement authorities assume that some 50 to 80 guerillas might still be near the border, for it is difficult to examine the high-altitude difficult-to-access areas of the Caucasus ridge. This is the business of not only Georgian, but also Russian border guards. However, in general the operation has been conducted successfully," he said.
The ambassador said he regards the conflict in Abkhazia as a source of complications between Georgia and Russia. "It is quite dangerous when aggressive separatism in one region is viewed as a threat and in another it does not seem that dangerous. There should be no double standards here. Aggressive separatism always turns into terrorism, and we hope Russia will apply its huge and yet unused resource in resolving the conflict in Abkhazia," he said.
Abashidze said he expects the Russian and Georgian presidents to meet during a CIS summit in Chisinau on October 7 and to reach certain agreements, particularly on this issue.