GEORGIA: SPECIAL FORCES CONDUCT SECURITY SWEEP THROUGH THE LAWLESS PANKISI GORGE AREA TAKING WITH THEM DELEGATION OF FOREIGN AMBASSADORS

Record ID: 643505

  • Title: GEORGIA: SPECIAL FORCES CONDUCT SECURITY SWEEP THROUGH THE LAWLESS PANKISI GORGE AREA TAKING WITH THEM DELEGATION OF FOREIGN AMBASSADORS
  • Date: 31st August 2002
  • Summary: (W6) AKHMETA (12 KM FROM PANKISI GORGE), AND PANKISI GORGE, GEORGIA (AUGUST 30, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. TRACKING SHOT PANKISI GORGE FROM MOVING VEHICLE 0.06 2. MV INTERIOR BUS CARRYING FOREIGN AMBASSADORS; BUS GOING THROUGH GEORGIAN MILITARY CHECKPOINT AND ENTERING GORGE AREA; TS ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER/ GEORGIAN SOLDIERS (2 SHOTS) 0.20 3. SLV GEORGIAN SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIERS WEARING MASKS 0.29 4. MV FOREIGN AMBASSADORS LOOKING AROUND AREA; SLV MILITARY ENCAMPMENT/ TENTS; SLV GEORGIAN SOLDIERS ON TANK (3 SHOTS) 0.43 5. SLV FOREIGN AMBASSADORS IN AREA; MV GEORGIAN SPECIAL FORCES OFFICERS (4 SHOTS) 1.07 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) RICHARD MILES, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR IN GEORGIA SAYING "I think they (Georgian security forces) at first want to establish government presence and then to establish law and order (in Pankisi Gorge) and then civil control and finally to bring some of the benefits of the government services to the population." ASKED ABOUT A GEORGIAN ALLEGATIONS THAT RUSSIAN WARPLANES BOMBED THE PANKISI AREA LAST WEEK, MILES SAYS: "I think they were Russian planes." 1.31 7. SLV AMBASSADORS AND MILITARY 1.36 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VLADIMIR GUDEV, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR IN GEORGIA SAYING "If the results (of the Georgian military operation) appears to be a real fight, not just with criminals but with a group of terrorists, then this would make Russia-Georgia relations healthier. And on the contrary, if the operation results in terrorists being pushed out over the border into Russia, then tension at the (Georgia-Russia) border will continue and our relations will suffer." 2.36 9. SLV GEORGIAN ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER; SLV GEORGIAN SOLDIERS; SLV GEORGIAN SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIERS (3 SHOTS) 0.51 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian) KOBA NARCHEMASHVILI, GEORGIAN INTERIOR MINISTER SAYING "We also care about kidnapping in the region and doing our best to settle this problem." 3.10 11. SLV GEORGIAN SOLDIERS STROLLING DOWN ROAD 3.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 15th September 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AKHMETA (12 KM FROM PANKISI GORGE) AND PANKISI GORGE, GEORGIA
  • Country: Georgia
  • Reuters ID: LVAAGNJEEKGZJNCLIFGD3A9HABGG
  • Story Text: Georgian special forces have conducted a security sweep
    through the country's lawless Pankisi Gorge, taking with them
    a delegation of foreign ambassadors, including Russian and
    United States envoys to Tbilisi.

    Heavily armed Georgian special forces soldiers, some
    with their faces covered to protect their identity, moved into
    the Pankisi Gorge on Friday (August 30, 2002), at the
    start of a security sweep into the area.

    They were accompanied by Tbilisi-based ambassadors,
    including those from the United States, Russia and Israel.

    "I think they (Georgian security forces) at first want
    to establish government presence and then to establish law and
    order (in Pankisi Gorge) and then civil control and finally to
    bring some of the benefits of the government services to the
    population," said Richard Miles, the U.S. ambassador.

    Georgia and its former imperial master Russia have
    feuded over the Pankisi Gorge region for months, Moscow
    infuriated by Tbilisi's failure to clear it of hundreds of
    Chechen rebels who use bases there to launch attacks on
    Russia.

    The war of words sucked in the United States last
    weekend, the White House rebuking Moscow for allegedly bombing
    a village in the gorge and causing the death of a civilian.

    Russia denies any role and says the Georgians may have carried
    out the attack.

    Questioned by reporters as he stood in the Pankisi
    Gorge, Moscow's ambassador to Tbilisi said he hoped the
    Georgian military operation would be a "real fight" against
    what he called were terrorist elements.

    "If the results (of the Georgian military operation)
    appears to be a real fight, not just with criminals but with a
    group of terrorists, then this would make Russia-Georgia
    relations healthier. And on the contrary, if the operation
    results in terrorists being pushed out over the border into
    Russia, then tension at the border (Georgia-Russia) will
    continue and our relations will suffer," said Russian
    ambassador Vladimir Gudev.

    Georgia's Interior Minister, Minister Koba
    Narchemashvili, said his country's forces would be targeting
    kidnappers of foreigners, including a British banker who was
    seized in Tbilisi in June and has not been heard from since.

    The kidnap business has flourished in Georgia in the 10
    chaotic years since it regained its independence from the
    collapsing Soviet Union, with Pankisi the most common place
    for kidnapping or moving hostages.

    Two Spanish businessmen were freed last December after
    372 days in captivity there. A Lebanese businessman, kidnapped
    last year, was held for three months before being freed.

    And a brother of AC Milan player Kakha Kaladze, Levan,
    was kidnapped in Tbilisi last May. A ransom demand for 600,000
    USD has been made by his captors.


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