Adjar Supreme Council Chairman Aslan Abashidze said in Batumi on 25 February that the central Georgian government is planning \"armed aggression\" against his autonomous republic . Abashidze claimed that 500 Georgian service personnel who graduated from the U.S.-funded Train and Equip Program are on standby to be deployed to Adjaria, together with nine tanks and 23 armored personnel carriers. Adjaria\'s permanent representative in Tbilisi, Hamlet Chipashvili, said on 25 February that sending troops to Adjaria would be \"a great mistake,\" Caucasus Press reported. Chipashvili said the tensions between Abashidze and the central government must be resolved peacefully. Georgian National Security Council Secretary Vano Merabishvili denied that troops will be sent to Adjaria, while Deputy State Security Minister Amiran Meskheli told the independent television station Rustavi-2 that while no such deployment is planned at present, \"we can send troops to any part of the country if necessary.\" (Caucasus Press)