GEORGIA: Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili says Russian troops stationed in breakaway regions should be replaced by an international force

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said on Thursday (March 15) Russian troops stationed in breakaway regions should be replaced by an international force. Tbilisi accuses Moscow of stirring tensions in the rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia -- home to "frozen conflicts" dating back to the collapse of the Soviet Union. "The current peacekeeping format is discredited and ineffective and everybody understand that its preservation in a current form is impossible. We should gradually turn into another format by a multilateral consultations peacefully and calmly," Saakashvili said in his annual address to the parliament. Georgia's parliament last year demanded Russian peacekeepers leave and be replaced by an international contingent, saying their presence amounted to "annexation" and "support of separatism". Russia considers the troops to be key to stopping a resumption of the wars that gripped the regions in 1991-93. The rebel regions also refuse to countenance the troops leaving, seeing them as defence against Georgian attack. Georgia, a former Soviet republic long in Moscow's shadow, has increasingly sought to disassociate itself from the Kremlin since a peaceful revolution in 2003 brought the west-leaning Saakashvili to power. Saakashvili, who wants to bring Abkhazia and South Ossetia back into Georgia, said in the parliament his country extended "hand of friendship" to Abkhaz and Ossetian people and offered wide autonomy rights to separatist republics. "We are extending the hand of friendship to our Abkhaz and Ossetian compatriots again. We are ready to offer wide autonomous rights to them, based on international standards," Saakashvili said. The added Georgia wanted Western bodies to be involved in conflict resolution more actively. Saakashvili addressed the parliament just days after a helicopter attack on a disputed gorge under Tbilisi's control. Georgian officials say three Russian helicopters fired late on Sunday at the Kodori gorge in Abkhazia, long the focus of tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi. Russia's air force denied any attacks and said all its aircraft near the area were grounded over the weekend. The Kodori gorge is the de facto border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. The upper part of the gorge is home to a local pro-Georgian administration, while the lower part is controlled by Abkhazian separatists.

ITN Source | March 16, 2007