TBILISI. Dec 17 (Interfax-AVN) - Contrary to reports from Russia's unified federal headquarters in the North Caucasus, the Georgian State Border Guard Department has no information on the upcoming breakthrough of up to 40 guerillas reporting to Ruslan Gelayev from the Pankisi gorge to Ingushetia.
"Relocations of guerilla groups have not been registered by Georgian border guards, no information on the matter was provided by the North Caucasus border guard department either," the Georgian department's press service chief Shalva Londaridze told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
As a result of an anti-criminal operation that was carried out by the Georgian Interior Ministry forces in the Pankisi gorge from August to November, there are no large rebel groups in the area.
"If there are a few individuals left, it is impossible to go through passes at the moment because they are covered with snow," Londaridze said.
According to him, "OSCE observers, who monitor the Chechen and Ingush sections of the Russian-Georgian border, have no information on the possible breakthrough either."
"That is why the Georgian Border Guard Department considers the statement to be misinformation," Londaridze noted.
A source in the Federal Border Guard Service's operational group within the unified federal headquarters told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday morning that some 40 guerillas subordinate to Gelayev are planning to break through from Georgia to Ingushetia.