13 August 2008, 13:24
Georgia rejects information on march of militaries towards Tbilisi
The information about the march of Russian armoured machines on Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, widespread by foreign media, has nothing to do with reality, said Ekaterina (Eka) Zguladze, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia.
According to her story, indeed, Russian militaries are moving in the area of Gori, but do not get outside the city.
Let us note here that messages about the march of armoured machines appeared in western mass media after President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev had made a decision "to end the operation on enforcing Georgia to peace."
The data on movement of armoured vehicles to Tbilisi was also refuted by Batu Kutelia, Deputy Minister of Defence of Georgia, in his interview to "Rustavi-2" TV Channel.
Also, as he said, Russian militaries are leaving the territory of the western Georgian city of Zugdidi, on the border with Abkhazia, and return to their disposition area.
Russian peacekeepers have explained that foreign media and Mikhail Saakashvili took the evacuation of combat equipment from the base near Gori for an attempt to storm the capital of Georgia, the RIA "Novosti" reports.
Earlier, a number of foreign media, including AFP Agency and CNN TV Channel, reported about a march of a Russian armoured column from Gori towards Tbilisi.
In this context, President of Georgia gave an interview to CNN. He said live on air that Russian tanks were allegedly surrounding the city and he was ready to defend Tbilisi to the last drop of his blood. Later, this information was refuted by the CNN website.
We remind you that today Alexander Lomaya, Secretary of the Georgian Security Council, has stated that Russia had broken the ceasefire agreement and is bombing the Georgian city of Gori.
The ITAR-TASS reports that Russian peacekeeping forces have detected a stock of Georgian armed forces in the vicinity of Gori. The peacekeepers' spokesman said that "in the vicinity of Gori, a huge stock of Georgian armoury and ammunitions was found."
As he said, "the stock was not guarded, and the military equipment was in the state of complete readiness. With the aim to demilitarize the territory adjoining the conflict zone and to ensure safety of the peaceful population, the peacekeepers are now evacuating the equipment and ammunition."