SUKHUMI, July 29 (RIA Novosti) - The situation in the Kodori Gorge, in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia where Tbilisi authorities have conducted a police operation, is quiet, a first deputy defense minister of the self-proclaimed republic said Saturday.
Georgian troops were moved to the gorge to disarm a rebellious militia unit led by Emzar Kvitsiani. Georgia said it was a police operation, but later admitted army units were also involved.
"The situation in the Kodori Gorge is calm," Anatoly Zaitsev said.
He said Abkhazian armed forces were in control of the lower part of the gorge.
The Kodori Gorge in the north of the former Soviet republic is the Georgian-controlled territory and the de facto border with Abkhazia.
Georgian Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili said Thursday Georgian security forces would stay in the gorge for the time being, to complete the "mopping-up of criminals from the area."
