TBILISI. June 9 (Interfax-AVN) - The people who abducted three UN observers have been cordoned off in the Kodori Gorge, a Kodori Gorge administration source told Interfax on Monday.
The hostage-release operation has not begun yet, as the Georgian authorities plan to hold negotiations with the hostage- takers, he said.
State Minister Avtandil Dzhorbenadze told journalists that "every essential step is being take to have the hostages released, and it will be clear within the next few hours if our efforts are going to be successful."
Dzhorbenadze believes that the hostage-release effort "must not create any violence or threats against the UN observers."
Irakly Batiashvili, head of the parliamentary committee for defense and national security, told journalists that the Defense Ministry units involved in the operation will leave the Kodori Gorge once the hostages are freed.
Several unidentified individuals abducted three UN mission observers, a Dane and two Germans, and their interpreter in the Kodori Gorge on June 5.