ABKHAZIA PEACEKEEPING OPERATION TO BE INTERNATIONALIZED.

Returning from his U.S. visit (see yesterday’s Monitor), Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze yesterday indicated that he has obtained firm U.S. support for, and likely Russian consent to, UN Security Council authorization of an international peacekeeping operation in Abkhazia. Tbilisi, for its part, will tolerate the continuation of the existing Russian operation beyond its July 31 expiry, in order to avoid any outbreak of hostilities that might derail the plan to deploy international peacekeeping troops. (Western and Russian agencies, July 22)

Brzezinski in Baku Ahead of Aliev’s U.S. Visit.