TBILISI. Feb 5 (Interfax-AVN) - The self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia is not planning to discuss with Georgia possibilities of holding joint anti-criminal operations on the territory controlled by Sukhumi, Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba said on Thursday.
Shamba told Interfax-Military News Agency by phone that he welcomes the launching of anti-criminal operations in Western Georgia by Georgian law-enforcement agencies, but noted that their conduction must be cleared with Abkhazia, the UN, and the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces.
"Those who call themselves guerillas of Western Georgia are, in fact, terrorists, and all international organizations say that," Shamba stressed.
"Abkhaz law-enforcement agencies have relocated additional forces to the Gali district and reinforced controls, because the operation may force criminals to leave Western Georgia for the adjacent Abkhaz district," he noted.
Asked about the situation in the Kodori gorge, the only Abkhaz area controlled by Tbilisi after the armed conflict of 1992-1993, Shamba said Abkhazia can establish order there by itself and Georgian law-enforcement agencies should not do that.
Commenting on Georgian Interior Minister Georgy Baramidze's statement concerning Russian peacekeepers' involvement in smuggling, the Abkhaz minister said it was "a naked assertion." "There are no facts confirming this. And such high-ranking officials must not make such statements," Shamba said.