Georgian Experts Specify Chechnya-Georgia Border

Officials of the Georgian State Border Guard Department and members of the state border delimitation commission have started delimitation of the Chechnya-Georgia frontier close to the mountain village of Shatili, a department spokesman said on Thursday. A working group headed by deputy department chairman Gela Khutsishvili is to specify the location of the border in that district, the spokesman told the Military News Agency. A Russian-Georgian agreement only gives its approximate position. Both countries are interested in quicker and successful completion of the work, the spokesman stressed. The possibility of border conflicts provoked by Chechen guerrillas is very high in that area, he claimed. That is why both Russian and Goergian guards should know clearly where the frontier lies. A Russian group has also been working on specification of the Chechnya-Georgia border, the Agency learned in the Russian Federal Border Guard Service. After it is completed, the parties will exchange the information and hold negotiations of border delimitation. According to the Georgian spokesman, the 906km-long border between the two states has about 40 disputable sections.