Russia Removing Weapons From Georgia Amid Separatist Conflict

Russia has begun removing weapons and ammunition from Georgia, where the government is trying to seize the materiel for its battle with Abkhazian separatists, Georgian officials said Wednesday.

Georgian military officials in Sukhumi said they are expecting an attack by the separatists on the city of 150,000 people. Georgian troops captured the city, the Abkhazian capital, in August.

Abkhazian forces have scored key military victories in the past five days, pushing Georgian troops out of northwestern Abkhazia, according to reports from the breakaway region.

The fighting has escalated as Georgia prepares for national elections Sunday, but Georgian leader Eduard A. Shevardnadze says the vote will go on as scheduled.

Also Wednesday, Georgian press reports said Abkhazians massacred Georgians in Gagra after the separatists seized control of the city Friday. The reports said scores and perhaps hundreds of people were executed and buried in mass graves.

An Abkhazian official contacted by the Associated Press said that “there was no massacre, as there were practically no Georgians” left in Gagra after evacuations from the city last week.

There was no way to verify either report independently.

Tensions have been increasing between Russia and Georgia in recent days over the 6-week-old conflict in Abkhazia. On Tuesday, President Boris N. Yeltsin said Russian troops were taking full control of the main railway in Abkhazian territory, as well as the coastline.