MOSCOW. Oct 29 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia have not been put on high alert despite the recent worsening of the political situation in the republic, Viktoria Dergileva, a spokeswoman for the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Force in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
"Regardless of escalation of the internal political situation in Abkhazia, all peacekeeping units serve in the regular mode in compliance with combat training and peacekeeping activity plans," Dergileva said.
"In the ten years the CIS peacekeeping force has been in the conflict area, no one has been able to involve it in political conflicts in the republic, and they will not be able to do so now, during presidential elections in Abkhazia. We have always observed and will continue to observe neutrality," Dergileva said.
She stressed that "neither Abkhaz presidential candidates nor their followers have made any provocation acts in relation to the Russian servicemen on a peacekeeping mission under CIS aegis."
Dergileva noted that the Collective Peacekeeping Forces command is well aware of the situation in the region and positions of all presidential runners. "We do not expect any provocation acts in the future, and that is why the command sees no grounds to put peacekeeping units on alert," she said.
The first democratic presidential elections were held in Abkhazia, which separated from Georgia in the early 1990s, on October 3. On Friday, the republic's Supreme Court made two contradictory decisions on the legitimacy of the election results. The court first ruled that the winner was Sergei Bagapsh, and then cancelled that decision, invalidating the election results.