MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - The secretary of the Security Council of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia said Saturday he attributed Georgia's decision to revise the issue of Russian peacekeepers to natural gas prices.
"I believe that since Georgia has been hit by an energy crisis, the issue of peacekeepers will be used as a bargaining chip in an effort to reduce the price of Russian natural gas supplies, although the overriding objective is, of course, to get the peacekeepers out of Georgia," Stanislav Lakoba said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
Lakoba added that the deadline set by the Georgian parliament on the presence of Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zones was not accidental. "The issue of Russian peacekeepers is being raised at a time when the heating season is approaching," Lakoba said.
"Something is happening in Russian-Georgian relations ahead of the winter season," he said. "Perhaps it takes a chill on the diplomatic level for Georgia to get warm."
Earlier, the Georgian parliament passed a resolution on Russian peacekeepers, demanding the termination of peacekeeping operations in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the pullout of Russian peacekeepers unless their role in the Georgian-Ossetian and Abkhazian conflict zones was revised before February 10 and July 1, 2006, respectively.
