SUKHUMI. July 30 (Interfax-AVN) - The command of the CIS peacekeeping force in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone is ready to invite experts to visit the Gudauta base, force commander Lieutenant General Alexander Yevteyev told reporters in Sukhumi on Wednesday.
"There is no Russian military base in Gudauta as such. It was closed under the Istanbul agreement," he added. The 30th group of the CIS force and a helicopter unit are currently deployed there. Four helicopters of the Russian peacekeepers, various maintenance storehouses, and the military compound where servicemen's families are living are located on the airfield's territory. "There is no heavy combat hardware on the territory of the former base either," he said.
Yevteyev recalled that OSCE experts visited the base in 2002 and had a chance to make sure that there is no heavy armament or hardware at the base.
The peacekeepers are ready to accept experts any time, he stressed.
Yevteyev refuted reports that the peacekeeping command had suggested adding an air defense battalion to the CIS peacekeeping force.
There is no need to do this, because an air defense missile platoon organic of the detached motorized rifle battalion is accomplishing its mission in full.
Yevteyev did not confirm reports that Georgia had transferred ammunition to the upper part of Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia, controlled by the Georgian military. He said there are four peacekeeping posts in different parts of the gorge and they have not registered a single instance of transportation of ammunition. "No traffic of armament or ammunition happens or can happen through the parts," Yevteyev stressed.
He called the situation in the gorge normal. However, following the recent incident in which a patrol of UN observers and peacekeepers were taken hostage the patrolling mechanism in the gorge will be changed, he said. "We are not satisfied with the arrangement of the patrolling," he stressed.
Yevteyev described the situation in the security zone controlled by Russian peacekeepers as generally calm. "The peacekeepers are working as usual," he added. The replacement of the peacekeeping unit in Zugdidi was calm, the 60 peacekeepers who served at checkpoints in the Kodori gorge were also replaced in the regular way.
Over 20,000 Russian peacekeepers have taken part in the peacekeeping operation in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone since June 1994. During this period, they have neutralized over 3,000 explosive devices and confiscated over 200 pieces of small arms and 50,000 pieces of ammunition.
According to Yevteyev, over 15,000 Georgian refugees have returned to Gali district of Abkhazia in two years. Up to 70% of refugees returned to 43 towns and villages of the district.