TBILISI. July 5 (Interfax-AVN) -- Georgia has launched a protest to the command of Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia. Tbilisi protested against shooting from a peacekeeping checkpoint near Saberio in the small hours of July 4, head of Georgian peacekeepers' office in Abkhazia Valery Japaridze told Interfax on Monday. "The shooting went on for about 20 minutes. Nobody was killed or wounded," he said.
"We asked the peacekeepers' command for explanations and we were told that armed people had attacked the checkpoint," Japaridze said. "The tripartite investigation commission did not find any traces of the attack on the checkpoint on Sunday," he said.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov told Interfax earlier on Monday that Russian servicemen from the Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone came under fire on two occasions last weekend.
The peacekeepers' 221st post located outside the village of Saberio near the Abkhaz-Georgian administrative border was attacked late on July 3.
"The peacekeepers came under fire from the Georgian side of the border. They had to open fire in response to avert provocation. No servicemen were injured," Sedov said.
In addition, the 304th post manned by Russian peacekeepers came under attack late on July 4. The incident occurred near the village of Erisukali.
A commission comprising representatives of the collective peacekeeping forces in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone, the UN mission and the Georgian authorities has been set up to investigate the incidents, Sedov said. He said that the commission had confirmed the shooting.