STAVROPOL. March 7 (Interfax-AVN) - The situation at the Russian-Georgian border could significantly worsen as spring comes, a high-ranking official from the Russian Federal Border Service has said.
"Now that spring is coming and the snow is melting on mountain passes and paths, we cannot rule out that Chechen guerillas may again try to break through the Russian-Georgian border," Lieutenant General Valery Putov, the acting chief of the North Caucasus regional border guard department, told Interfax on Friday.
"The tension at the border is gradually increasing. This is prompted by a number of factors, such as statements made by Georgian authorities that they are going to launch a new phase of the anti-criminal operation in the Pankisi Gorge. This could push the guerillas into trying to leave Georgian territory," he said.
The intensification of guerilla activity near the Chechen sector of the border is evidenced by the fact that soldiers from the Argun border detachment find caches with weapons and munitions "everyday," he said.
The Federal Border Guard Service is taking comprehensive measures to reinforce the border with Georgia, the general said. "In particular, a special border unit has been deployed in Chechnya, which is being maintained at an alert status and, if need be, can promptly respond to an attempt by rebel groups to break through the border," Putov said.
Interaction between the Russian and Georgian border guards, including the exchange of information, has significantly improved of late, Putov said. Russian, Georgian, and Azerbaijani border guards have recently conducted joint command post exercises to train the elimination of a conditional bandit group on the border. "The skills acquired through the exercises could be applied if the situation at the border deteriorates dramatically," he said.