13:21, 21 January 2004

Eduard Shevardnadze raises question about occupation of Abkhazia and South Osetia

Speaking on Echo of Moscow Radio on January 20, former Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze stated that Abkhazia and South Osetia were occupied by Russian troops and called upon new Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili to solve this problem. Shevardnadze opposed against the presence of the Russian peacekeeping contingent on the territory of Abkhazia and South Osetia as far back as being president of Georgia. He periodically demanded that the servicemen be withdrawn, trying to gain over Georgian nationalists. "The point is that our society is small, our nation is small, and our country is small too. Its authorities fall under the society's influence to a greater extent and they simply can not act against public sentiments, which are pro-Russian," Abkhazian Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba said on January 20.

Source: REGNUM News Agency