GEORGIA: RUSSIAN TROOPS PULL OUT OF KADORI GORGE AFTER SEVERE PROTESTS AT THEIR PRESENCE

Record ID: 643502

  • Title: GEORGIA: RUSSIAN TROOPS PULL OUT OF KADORI GORGE AFTER SEVERE PROTESTS AT THEIR PRESENCE
  • Date: 14th April 2002
  • Summary: (U7) TBILISI, GEORGIA (APRIL 13, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV GEORGIAN STUDENTS RALLY IN THE GEORGIAN CAPITAL DEMANDING WITHDRAWAL OF RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS FROM ABKHAZIA; SLV STUDENTS MARCHING TOWARDS THE RUSSIAN EMBASSY CHANTING "LONG LIVE GEORGIA WITHOUT RUSSIA" (2 SHOTS) 0.14 2. SLV RUSSIA EMBASSY BUILDING WITH RUSSIAN FLAG; MV TWO GEORGIAN FLAGS ON THE WALL WITH SLOGANS "RUSSIAN SOLDIERS GET OUT OF KODORI" AND "RUSSIAN OCCUPANTS GO HOME" 0.22 3. MV STUDENTS FORMING CHAIN AROUND THE EMBASSY FENCE; SLV RALLY/STUDENT BLOCKING THE WAY OF THE RUSSIAN EMBASSY CAR (4 SHOTS) 0.50 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LADO SAYING "We demand that Russia leave the territory of Georgia." 0.58 5. SLV EXTERIOR OF THE CENTRAL CONCERT HALL 1.05 6. SLV GEORGIAN PRESIDENT EDUARD SHEVARDNADZE ADDRESSING THE YOUTH FORUM; SCU SHEVARDNADZE 1.10 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian ) EDUARD SHEVARDNADZE SAYING: "I will let you know about the results of our telephone conversation [with Putin] even before the end of the forum but even now I can tell you that I am convinced the results will be positive." 1.20 (U7) KODORI GORGE, ABKHAZIA, GEORGIA (APRIL 13,2002)(REUTERS) 8. SLV RUSSIAN TROOPS IN KADORI GORGE; SLV TROOPS BOARDING AMMUNITION INTO HELICOPTERS (3 SHOTS) 1.38 9. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VALERY ASAPOV, COLONEL OF PEACEKEEPING FORCES SAYING "All this time the situation was very tense but I must say that the local population was quite friendly towards us although there were some instigators." 1.54 10. SLV LOCAL ARMED MEN WATCHING TROOPS LEAVE; SLV/AV HELICOPTERS TAKING OFF AND FLYING AWAY (12 SHOTS) 3.12 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 29th April 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TBILISI AND KODORI GORGE, ABKHAZIA, GEORGIA
  • Country: Georgia
  • Reuters ID: LVAEN6U0NJ9K0MZYLBLWELAYXFS9
  • Story Text: Russian troops wearing blue helmets and camouflage
    body-armour have loaded their ammunition into helicopters and
    pulled out of the Kadori Gorge in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia
    region after severe protests from the Georgian side.

    The arrival of troops in the gorge in the rebel Abkhazia
    region has sparked tension between Georgia and Russia just
    weeks before U.S. military instructors were due to arrive in
    the ex-Soviet state.

    Dozens of students marched through central Tbilisi on
    Saturday (April 13, 2002) chanting "Long live Georgia
    without Russia." in a protest against Russia's peacekeeping
    forces deployed in Kodori Gorge on the border with Abkhazia.

    Students formed a live chain near the Russian embassy
    building trying to block embassy vehicles from leaving the building.

    Posters glued to the fence read " Russian occupants-out of
    Kodori" "Russian soldiers-go home."
    "We demand that Russia leave the territory of Georgia"
    said , 20-year-old Lado, one of the participants in the rally
    The deployment of Russian blue helmets caused outrage in
    Georgia just weeks before the planned arrival of U.S. military
    instructors on a training mission that has infuriated Moscow.

    President Eduard Shevardnadze addressing a student's forum
    in Tbilisi said he planed to hold a telephone conversation
    with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the matter.

    "I believe that we will find a common language and that
    this incident will become part of history," he said ahead of
    the telephone call. The Kremlin said the two men had agreed a
    quick resolution could only be worked out by both parties in
    co-ordination with the United Nations.

    Russia's Foreign Ministry has said that Moscow had sent
    the unit to the gorge under an agreement brokered this month
    requiring Russian and U.N. observers to patrol there.

    Moscow has kept about 1,500 armed peacekeepers in Abkhazia
    since separatists drove Georgian forces out of the province in
    a 1992-93 war. The United Nations also has a small, unarmed
    military observer team there
    Shevardnadze called the Russian deployment "an attempt at
    aggression". He threatened that, unless the soldiers withdrew
    completely, he would expel the entire Russian peace force.

    Russian Colonel Valery Asapov, commander of the blue
    helmets, has said that the whole period since the troops'
    deployment was tense but the local population in the gorge
    were quite friendly towards Russian peacekepers. "Although
    there were a few instigators" he added.

    Relations between Georgia and its former imperial master
    have been tense for the past two years. Moscow accuses Tbilisi
    of harbouring rebels fighting Russian forces in breakaway
    Chechnya, and Georgia has only recently admitted their
    presence.

    The latest flare-up preceded the expected arrival later
    this month of U.S. special forces instructors to give Georgia
    arms and training in counter-terrorism. Abkhaz rebels fear
    this could tip the balance against them, and have sought
    Russian backing.


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