AJAR LEADER SUPPORTS ETHNIC ARMENIAN GROUP AGAINST TBILISI.

Ajaria’s Supreme Soviet Chairman Aslan Abashidze announced on September 21 that he has met with leaders of the ethnic Armenian organization Javakh, which exercises substantial control in two Armenian-populated districts of Georgia. Abashidze endorsed the Javakh leaders’ proposal to transfer the Armenian-populated Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda districts to the Ajar Autonomous Republic. Most significantly, Abashidze supported the Javakh leaders’ stated goal to retain Russian troops in the Armenian-populated area of Georgia (Russian agencies, September 21).

Abashidze himself favors keeping Russian troops in Ajaria. These demands and the emergent Ajar-Armenian alliance look made to order for Moscow, enabling it to perpetuate the presence of Russian troops in Georgia in defiance of the central government’s wishes.

TWO TERRORIST ACTS IN ABKHAZIA.