REGION NOT A RUSSIAN BACKYARD, TOP GEORGIAN OFFICIALS TELL WEST.

Georgian parliament chairman Zurab Zhvania, parliamentary National Defense Commission chairman Revaz Adamia, and President Eduard Shevardnadze’s adviser for national security, Archil Gegeshidze, told a London conference on "The Prospects of the Caucasus" yesterday that the South Caucasus must not be viewed as a zone of predominant Russian interests. Russian trade and investment in the region lag well behind those of Turkey and Western Europe, and Russian political authority has similarly declined, the officials pointed out. Noting that the region is indispensable to Europe as the transit route for Caspian and Central Asian fuels and raw materials, the officials urged that the South Caucasus be treated as a part of Europe and linked in some way to the European Union. They described the Russian border troops in Georgia as a hindrance to international economic cooperation and stated that Tbilisi will insist on their withdrawal. (Turan, January 28)

Russian "Peacekeepers" Marauding with Abkhaz Troops.