Russia sends rail workers into Georgia
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that it had sent unarmed personnel into a breakaway region of neighboring Georgia to restore a railroad.
Russia’s support for the independence aspirations of the Abkhazia region is a source of growing tension with Georgia, which denounced the latest action as “an aggressive step.”
The 300 Russian railway troops arrived Friday and Saturday, said Abkhaz Deputy Foreign Minister Daur Kove. He said they are needed to restore the rail link so materials can be shipped to Sochi, a Russian city on the Black Sea, which is preparing to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Russia’s only rail link with Georgia is a line that runs along the Black Sea and ends in Abkhazia’s main city, Sukhumi. The continuation of the line from Sukhumi to Ochamchira, about 30 miles southeast, is in disrepair. Abkhaz officials said this section will be restored because Ochamchira is the origin of needed building materials.
Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze called the move “an aggressive step by Russia.”
Abkhazia broke away in 1993. Georgia rejects the region’s independence claim.
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