MOSCOW. May 6 (Interfax-AVN) - The so-called rose revolution which the German administration managed to organize in the autonomous republic of Ajaria will not repeat in Abkhazia, Defense Minister of the self-proclaimed republic Vyacheslav Eshba said on Thursday.
"The Georgian leadership's attempt to export the rose revolution to Abkhazia, as it has been done in Ajaria, is doomed to fail, because Abkhazia is not a part of Georgia, but an independent state," Eshba told Interfax-Military News Agency by phone.
He lashed out at "the provocative nature of the statement made by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili at the rally in the Abkhaz capital early on Thursday."
Early on Thursday, Saakashvili addressed several thousand Ajarian residents from a window in Aslan Abashidze's office in the building of the Ajarian Supreme Council, saying, "I am confident we will go to Abkhazia very soon to unite completely."
"It is not the first time Tbilisi is making such statements, and now there are calls in the Abkhaz society to cut all ties with Georgia, up to blasting bridges, as it was done in Ajaria," Eshba said.
At the same time, he stressed that "Abkhaz leaders are planning to stick to the course towards peaceful settlement of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict with unconditional preservation of Abkhazia's sovereignty and independence, and to continue receiving Georgian refugees who left the republic during combat operations."
Eshba noted that the Abkhaz Armed Forces were not put on high alert during the standoff between Tbilisi and Batumi.
"Nevertheless, we were closely monitoring and still continue monitoring the situation, and our Armed Forces are ready to rebuff any aggression attempts," the minister said.