YEREVAN. Nov 11 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on Tuesday dismissed as "raving nonsense" a rumor that Russia has alerted its military bases in Georgia due to current tension between that country's government and opposition.
"Russia is not taking part in seeking to resolve the political crisis in Georgia in any form," Ivanov told a news conference in Yerevan.
"There is only one case in which Russian troops stationed in Georgia may use arms - if a Russian military base or its personnel is attacked. But this is a hypothetical question.
"As far as Russia is concerned, it is not in Russia's interests for the situation in Georgia to destabilize. We see all that is happening in Georgia as an internal political affair of the republic."