GEORGIA WARNS IT COULD SEND RUSSIAN TROOPS HOME.
Publication: Monitor Volume: 3 Issue: 111
Georgianpresident Eduard Shevardnadze has asked Boris Yeltsin to take"effective steps" to enforce a March 28 CIS summit resolutionon Abkhazia, Shevardnadze’s office announced yesterday. Shevardnadze’smessage to Yeltsin implied that Georgia would terminate the mandateof the Russian "peacekeeping" force before its July31 expiration date if the troops fail to enforce the resolution.The resolution centers on granting those nominally CIS troopspolice powers in part of Abkhaz-controlled territory and organizingthe safe return of Georgian refugees.
Also yesterday, the Georgian parliament’s Defense and SecurityCommittee charged in a statement that the "peacekeeping troopsessentially conserve the division line" across Georgia, assistAbkhaz reprisals against Georgian refugees seeking to return,and have themselves "become a source of corruption and criminality."The statement warned that the Georgian parliament would send thetroops home and reconsider the entire range of bilateral relations,including the question of Russian military bases in Georgia, "ifthe latter’s legitimate interests are ignored" with respectto Abkhazia. The statement refuted Yeltsin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky’srecent accusation that Tbilisi’s position amounted to "blackmailingRussia." (Interfax, June 5)
China Wins Control of Major Kazakstani Oil Company.