Georgia sends troops near breakaway region

TBILISI, Georgia, May 4 (UPI) -- Georgia has deployed nearly 7,500 troops on its border with breakaway region Abkhazia, a military official said.

Abkhazia Defense Minister DeMerab Kishmaria said should a military operation begin, about 3,000 troops will be used to seize the Kodori Gorge, which in the northeast of Abkhazia, RIA Novosti reported Sunday.

"We are watching the movement of troops in the Kodori Gorge. According to our intelligence, up to 7,500 Georgian troops on the Georgian-Abkhaz border are on alert, with 3,000 of them to be used in attempting to take the Kodori Gorge," he said.

Abkhaz armed forces, he added, had also been put on combat alert and that there would be enough forces and military equipment to repulse any "Georgian aggression."

The Russian news service reported that a Russian federal security source said Saturday that Georgia, "with the participation of foreign experts," had prepared a plan for "armed action" against Abkhazia.