Tbilisi secures control of villages in Kodori

Georgian authorities reported sporadic fighting Wednesday in a mountainous region where the government sent police forces to subdue a defiant militia leader and his supporters — the latest confrontation in a volatile former Soviet republic plagued by separatist movements. Georgy Arveladze, the chief of President Mikhail Saakashvili’s administration, claimed police had secured control over a handful of villages in the Kodori Gorge district, but skirmished with opponents in wooded areas or settlements where they faced resistance. The operation in the Kodori Gorge area began Tuesday, several days after Emzar Kvitsiani, who was an envoy to the region under Saakashvili’s predecessor, threatened to reactivate a militia of about 300 men. Arveladze asserted that the operation was being “conducted with great success,” despite difficult terrain. He claimed Kvitsiani and another man he referred to as a criminal figure were trying to escape from the region, but added, “all roads are blocked and they cannot run away.” [More]

S.Ossetia turns down peace talks in Tbilisi

South Ossetia's delegation will not participate in an August 9-10 session of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) on the settlement of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, the unrecognized republic's president said.

"We are in favor of continuing the JCC's work, but outside Georgia. Moscow, Vladikavkaz, Tskhinvali, or any other city, but not Tbilisi," Eduard Kokoity was quoted by the republic's information and press committee as saying. [More]

Tbilisi urges Abkhazia to drop bellicose rhetoric

Tbilisi and Sukhumi again traded accusations over the situation in the Kodori Gorge. Georgian Minister for Separatist Conflicts David Bakradze (pictured) on Friday urged the Abkhazian authorities to refrain from threats against the official Tbilisi.

They should think well before making threatening statements.... From the military point of view these threats are not serious, and from the political one -- an attempt to aggravate the situation and prevent the process of a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Bakradze expressed the hope that the international community, including the United Nations, would give an evaluation to such statements by the authorities of the self-proclaimed republic.

The latest wave of mutual accusations was set off by the opening of the NATO information center in Georgia, in the upper part of the Kodori Gorge on July 26. [More]

Gazprom unlikely to change gas price for Georgia

The price of gas for Georgia is projected to remain at $235 per thousand cubic meters in 2008, spokesman for Gazprom Sergei Kupriyanov told Echo of Moscow today. He pointed out that Georgia was already paying this amount for gas supplies from Russia. [More]

Russia has no plans to engage Abkhazia in Olympic projects - FM

Russia has never raised the question of attracting Abkhazia for the construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

“None of the Russian officials has ever raised such a question anywhere,” Lavrov said, responding to mass media reports.

Earlier, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza said in Tbilisi, Georgia, that attempts to involve Abkhazia in the Sochi Olympic projects would be an impermissible mistake on the part of Russia. [More]

Georgia claims Russian attack

Russia has committed an "act of aggression" against Georgia by firing a guided missile at its territory, officials in Tbilisi say.

They say the missile landed outside the village of Tsitelubani on Monday, some 60km (37 miles) north-west of the capital Tbilisi, but did not explode.

Georgia has now made a formal protest to Russia over the incident. Moscow denies all the accusations. [More]

Top Georgian threatens Olympic boycott

A top Georgian politician on Tuesday threatened a boycott against the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi if Moscow included a rebel province of Georgia in construction plans.

Nino Burdzhanadze was responding to comments made by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, who said building materials for Olympic facilities could be brought to Sochi from neighbouring Abkhazia.

"He clearly forgot that Russian jurisdiction does not extend over the territory of Abkhazia," Burdzhanadze said in an interview. [More]