SUKHUMI. March 7 (Interfax-AVN) - Abkhazia wants the Russian- Georgian summit in Sochi to clear out the issue of further stationing of Russian peacekeepers in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone, aide to the Abkhaz president Astamur Tania said on Friday.
"Georgia has found himself in a dead end, because, according to data available to Sukhumi, the peacekeepers' mandate is not extended officially," Tania told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"This happens because Georgia continues linking the mandate's extension to the demands such as creation of a mixed administration in the Gali district and extension of the peacekeepers' responsibility zone," Tania said.
"That is why the peacekeepers have to start preparations for withdrawal and brief the parties on plans of this process," he stressed.
"The Abkhaz leaders consider the peacekeepers the main guarantors of stability, but at the same time, a plan of replacing the "blue helmets" with Abkhaz army servicemen in case of the withdrawal has been drafted," the aide noted.
He expressed regret that Abkhaz officials are not invited to the talks in Sochi.
Harder pressure is unlikely to be put on Sukhumi after the meeting of the Russian and Georgian presidents, the aide went on.
"Abkhazia has nothing to suffer pressure for, as accusations of rejecting the document on the division of powers with Tbilisi drafted under the UN secretary general's auspices are groundless. The document has a purely recommendatory nature," Tania said.
He rejected Georgia's claims that Sukhumi is opposed to the return of Georgian refugees, saying that over 40,000 of them have already returned to Abkhazia.