Georgia, Tbilisi, 30 April/ corr. Trend N. Kirtskhalia/ The official representative of the U.S. State Department believes it to be pointless to increase the number of Russian peacekeepers in the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict zone up to 3,000 from the current 1,500. "It can cause the political and military tension in the region that no party in the region needs," Matthew Bryza, the assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State, said to Rustavi-2 TV.
" Russia, as a mediator of the conflict should not take steps that will further cause a tension in the region. It is possible that the decision of Russia has a formal ground, but it is an additional source of tension," he said.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia announced on 29 April that the developments in the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict zone necessitated an increase in the staff of Collective Forces of CIS on Support for Peace, in the number determined after the decision of the Council of Head of Government of CIS on 22 August 1994.
The Georgian government strongly objected to the increase in the number of Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia.