TBILISI. March 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The commander of the Russian Force in Transcaucasia has departed for Batumi to make sure that the personnel of the Russian military base stationed there be neutral in the conflict between Ajaria and Georgia, a competent source in the Force HQ told Interfax-Military News Agency Thursday.
"The main goal of Force Commander Major General Alexander Studenikin's inspection trip is to secure full neutrality of the personnel of the 12th Russian military base stationed in Ajaria in the conflict between the Georgian center and the region," the source said.
Press secretary of the Russian Embassy in Georgia Yevgeny Ivanov told Interfax-AVN that "the embassy is aware of the trip." He confirmed that the commander in person would be in charge of the situation at the base in the light of the recent tension between Georgia and Ajaria.
"This decision was taken due to repeated statements from Georgian media and officials that there were prerequisites for involvement of the Russian military into the political and even military confrontation between Tbilisi and Batumi," he said.
The diplomat emphasized that "so far the Russian military have been totally neutral, and there are no grounds to suspect that they will interfere in the internal affairs of the country they are deployed in."