Georgia Says Abkhaz Separatists Fired On Interior Minister

Georgian forces in the Kodori Gorge this summer (InterPressNews) October 26, 2006 -- Georgia today accused Abkhaz separatist forces of opening heavy-weapons fire on neighboring Georgian-controlled territory while Georgia's interior minister was visiting the area.

No one was injured.

Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili was visiting the upper part of the Kodori Gorge, an area which Tbilisi now refers to as "Upper Abkhazia."

Ministry spokesman Shota Khizanishvili called the incident "yet another provocation" by the separatists.

(Rustavi 2, civil.ge, AP)

The Kremlin Looks At Kosovo...And Beyond

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) greets Serbian President Boris Tadic in the Kremlin in November 2005 (TASS)

WILL THE KREMLIN BACK INDEPENDENCE? As the drive for independence grows in the Serbian province of Kosovo, the international community is speculating on how Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, will act. On September 22, Nicholas Whyte, director of the International Crisis Group's Europe Program, gave a briefing on the subject at RFE/RL's Washington, D.C., office. He speculated on what the Kremlin's "price" might be for agreeing to Kosovo's separation from Serbia.