By empty (9/19/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Russian parliament, the Duma, has begun drafting a document which will authorise the army to take military action in Georgia. The move comes after the Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, accused the Georgian authorities of aiding and abetting international terrorists, and warned that Russia was ready to strike at Georgian territory in self-defence. The chairman of the Duma international affairs committee, Dmitri Rogozin, said the lawmakers had employed several US law firms to prepare a list of international clauses and legal precedents that would support Russia's right to strike at rebel bases on Georgian territory.

By empty (9/19/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Five of the 12 Chechens detained in the Pankisi Gorge on 18 September were released the following day after Georgian authorities established they are bona fide displaced persons. Also on 19 September, Georgian Interior Minister Koba Narchemashvili said the Interior and State Security ministries have decided to impose an information blackout on the antiterrorism operation in Pankisi. (Caucasus Press).

By empty (9/19/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In an address to the UN General Assembly on 19 September, Georgian Foreign Minister Irakli Menagharishvili condemned statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he said constitute an open threat of aggression against Georgia. Menagharishvili said such statements, in conjunction with a Russian media campaign that depicts Georgia as abetting terrorists and thus fuelling the conflict in Chechnya, "gravely endanger peace and security in the region." He rejected as absurd Russian claims that Georgia is unable to crack down on Chechen militants on its territory, adding that Russia is using those accusations as "a smoke screen" to conceal its own inability to end the war in Chechnya.