OREANDA-NEWS. April 30, 2008. According to information that has come in from the Russian Ministry of Defense, the development of events in the Georgian-Abkhaz zone of conflict dictates the need for increasing Collective CIS Peacekeeping Force (PKF) personnel within the troop strength limits as set by a decision of the CIS Council of Heads of State, of August 22, 1994.

This step has been undertaken based on an evaluation of the growth of tension resulting from the destabilizing measures being taken by the Georgian side. Among them: the buildup, in violation of the Moscow agreement on the ceasefire and separation of forces of 14 May 1994, and relevant UN Security Council resolutions, of Georgian military and police forces in Upper Kodori, the step-up of flights by Georgian spy planes over the security zone, and Tbilisi’s refusal, contrary to the recommendation of the UN Secretary General, to close down the Patriot military-patriotic youth camp, which is located in direct proximity to the ceasefire line and has become the source of a series of provocations recently. Neither does Georgia’s permanently avoiding concluding an agreement with the Abkhaz side on the nonuse of force to resolve the conflict help to establish trust.

Under these conditions, the presence of the Russian peacekeepers remains a decisive factor of preventing the escalation of tension. The important stabilizing role of the CIS PKF and the effectiveness of its cooperation with the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) have once again been noted in the recently adopted resolution 1808 of the UN Security Council.

The measures to strengthen the PKF are undertaken solely for the purpose of preventing any likelihood of new bloodshed in Transcaucasia and of neutralizing attempts to reduce to naught the prospects for a peaceful political settlement of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.

The Russian Federation reaffirms its undeviating adherence to its international obligations for maintaining peace and stability in the region.