MOSCOW. June 2 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgian Interior Ministry statements on alleged relocation of arms, ammunition and combat hardware from Russia to South Ossetia does not correspond to reality, Russian Land Forces Commander-in-Chief and Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Kormiltsev said on Friday.
"No combat hardware, ammo or manpower is or can be relocated from Russia to South Ossetia. This is blatant misinformation," Kormiltsev told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"Any troop movement on the territory controlled by the Mixed Peacekeeping Force in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone would have been registered, including by servicemen of the Georgian peacekeeping battalion within the force," he said.
A high-ranking official of the Georgian Interior Ministry told Interfax on Friday that "armed formations and military hardware" are being relocated from Russia to South Ossetia. Commenting on South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity's statement alleging that Georgia is concentrating large military forces on the border with the self-proclaimed republic, he said, "Such misinformation is circulated by Ossetian separatists to conceal their military preparations and relocation of arms and military hardware from Russia."
According to the official, Georgia has obtained intelligence data on the relocation of "several heavy hardware pieces, a large number of shells, and over 100 armed people" to South Ossetia in June.
Kokoity told Interfax on Friday that "the Georgian authorities have made a final decision to use force to settle the conflict with our republic." "We know the date when this military operation is to begin - July 7-9," Kokoity said, adding that Georgian General Gogi Tatukhashvili has been appointed to command the operation.
"About 2,500 to 3,000 Georgian servicemen from various security agencies have already been deployed near the border with South Ossetia," he said, "and more troops are being sent."