MOSCOW, May 30 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned Tuesday the May 27 entry of Georgian special forces into the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict as a violation of existing agreements and a provocation.
"The Russian Foreign Ministry considers such actions on the part of Georgia as a violation of all existing agreements and sees a provocation in these actions aimed at exacerbating the situation in the conflict zone," said the ministry's spokesperson Mikhail Kamynin.
According to the ministry, Georgian special forces units covertly infiltrated the zone of the conflict with its breakaway region of South Ossetia on May 27 and cut off a contingent of Russian peacekeepers in the area.
"Only thanks to the self-control of the Russian peacekeepers were the worst scenario and bloodshed avoided," Kamynin said, adding that Georgia was responsible for all actions that lead to a deterioration of the situation in the conflict zone.
South Ossetia along with another breakaway region, Abkhazia, declared independence from Georgia in 1992 after bloody conflicts following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russian troops are stationed in the conflict zone as part of Joint Collective Peacekeeping Forces and are rotated once in six months. The latest rotation was scheduled for May 23 but was then put off until May 29.
Georgian diplomats said May 24 that the rotation of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia might be postponed again over contentious border checkpoints and unresolved visa issues.
The headquarters of the North Caucasus military district earlier said Georgia had attempted to stop the planned rotation of Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone by blockading the roads.
