TBILISI. Jan 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The Georgian Foreign Ministry has criticized the Russian embassy's statement to the effect that Chechen militants and international terrorists are still based in the Pankisi Gorge.
"The Georgian Foreign Ministry is authorized to state that the Georgian leadership has not received any information from official Russian sources indicating that militants or terrorists are based in the Pankisi Gorge," the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement circulated in Tbilisi on Monday.
"The Georgian Foreign Ministry is reiterating that there are neither militants, nor terrorists in Georgia, and that it is prepared to examine the Pankisi Gorge jointly with all parties concerned," the foreign ministry said.
It said that reports circulated by Russia for a third time this week "are arousing suspicions that Russia is looking for pretexts to carry out so-called 'preventive strikes' and subsequently justify them."
Russia intensified its accusations and threats after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's monitoring mandate on the Georgian-Russian border expired, it said.
"Georgia is interested in the international monitoring of the Chechen, Ingush and Dagestani stretches of the border, and is urging the world community, including the OSCE, to give an appropriate assessment of the effectiveness of the monitoring mission on the Georgian-Russian border and support Georgia's request for its extension," the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.