Georgia has confirmed the death of one of its policemen in the border area with Abkhazia. Earlier Abkhaz officials said that one Georgian man was killed and two more injured in clashes with Abkhazian border guards.
Abkhaz border guards prevented a Georgian “sabotage squad” from entering the country on Saturday, the presidential envoy to the Gali district, Ruslan Kishmaria, told Interfax. “Abkhaz border guards came into an armed clash with Georgian saboteurs at the border near the village of Soberia in the upper part of the Gali district of Abkhazia today. Preliminary reports indicate that one saboteur was killed and two others injured,” Kishmaria said No losses were reported on the Abkhazian side. In recent weeks Abkhazia and Russia have been calling on Georgia to stop subversive activities near the border. The head of the Abkhazian intelligence service was killed in the area in October. Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has said EU observers are failing to prevent Georgians entering the area. Russia recognised the independence of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia after the conflict in August this year.