Paksa Fasicist Red Carpet welcome to Indian Invasion

Task Force 'more powerful' than IC
Minister rejects accusations that EPDP is involved in rights violations The Task Force appointed by Sri Lanka President for north is more powerful than an Interim Council, its chairman said.Social Affairs Minister and the head of the Task Force, Douglas Devananda, told BBC Sandeshaya that he was given ‘unlimited powers’ to develop the north.
“My limit is sky and my sky is the president,” the minister said.
The Task Force is comprised of Presidential Advisor and president’s brother, Basil Rajapaksa, and Resettlement Minister, Risath Badiurdeen.
Consulting other groups
Intellectuals, religious leaders, former militant groups and Sri Lankan diaspora will be consulted in developing the north under the Task Force, minister Devananda
said.
My limit is sky and my sky is the president
Minister Douglas Devananda
He also hopes to hold talks with the leader of the Tamil United liberation Front (TULF), V Anandasangari.
The TULF leader who long proposed “Indian model” in resolving Sri Lanka’s national question, the minister said, has recently changed his mind to support an interim
measure.
“There hasn’t been any attempt towards a political solution since Indo-Sri Lanka accord,” Mr. Devananda told BBCSinhala.com.
Local police unit
The powerful Task Force, he said, hopes to establish a separate police unit in the north as an attempt to establish peace in the volatile region.
The Task Force expects to hold talks with the TULF leader
The Task Force also expect to re-open the main supply route to Jaffna, the A-9 highway, which has been closed since 2006.
“If I could do that, I think it will be a great step in ending the war,” he said.
The minister, who is also the leader of the Ealam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), denied accusations that EPDP is involved in human rights violations in the north.
Describing the accusations as “politically motivated”, Mr. Devananda expressed hope that the establishment of a regional police would help reduce rights violations.
Sri Lanka April Inflation Accelerates on Food Prices (Update2)
By Anusha Ondaatjie
April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka's inflation accelerated at the fastest pace in at least four years in April on higher food and energy costs, threatening economic
growth.
Consumer prices in the capital Colombo rose 25 percent from a year earlier, after increasing 23.8 percent in March, the statistics department said today. The median
estimate of 10 analysts in a Bloomberg survey was for a gain of 25.1 percent.
Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal, who has said the nation needs to rein in inflation to achieve 7 percent growth this year, may need to do more to check
prices. Inflation in 2008 may exceed the bank's target as commodity prices reach records, requiring ``tight monetary policy,'' he said April 12.
``I hope the central bank will give priority to controlling inflation,'' said Vajira Premawardhana, head of research at Lanka Orix Securities Pvt. in Colombo. ``The flip
side is compromising on growth.''
The central bank, which this month kept its key interest rate at 10.5 percent for the 14th straight meeting, may need to consider increasing the proportion of deposits
that commercial lenders must place with it or let the currency appreciate to cool runaway inflation, according to Fitch Ratings.
The central bank today said it was revising down its quarterly targets for reserve money for this year, which would help in ``containing the demand driven component
of inflation, ultimately containing further inflationary pressures.''
Central Bank of Sri Lanka has kept monetary policy tight with its daily open-market operations to adjust the amount of cash in the banking system and by controlling
credit demand.
Growth, Inflation
Annual inflation, or the 12-month moving average increase in prices, jumped to 18.7 percent in April. The central bank is targeting annual inflation of about 10 percent
for 2008.
The authority joins other Asian central banks in balancing the threat of slowing growth against quickening inflation. India's central bank yesterday unexpectedly
ordered lenders to set aside more reserves for the second time in less than two weeks to tame soaring prices.
The South Asian island economy may expand 7 percent in 2008, at the lower end of the range estimated in November, the central bank said in its annual report on
April 8.
Growth may slow to 5.8 percent this year from 6.8 percent in 2007 amid central bank measures to cool inflation, James McCormack, head of Asia-Pacific sovereign
ratings at Fitch Ratings, said April 10.
Price gains this month were led by a 40.2 percent increase in the cost of food and beverages. Housing and utility prices gained 11.1 percent.
Sri Lanka, which gets two-thirds of its electricity from oil-fired plants, levied a 30 percent ``fuel-adjustment charge'' on some users from March 15. Crude oil futures
touched a record $119.93 on April 28. Prices are up 76 percent from a year ago.
April's year-on-year inflation was the fastest since 2004, according to data compiled by the statistics department for a new index going back to that year.

Nalini moves HC, seeking early release
1 May 2008, 0216 hrs IST,TNN Print Save EMail Write to Editor Nalini Murugan (TOI Photo) CHENNAI:
Nalini Murugan, serving life term after her conviction in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, on Wednesday moved the Madras High Court for early
release. This comes nearly six weeks after her dramatic meeting with Priyanka Vadra, Rajiv Gandhi's daughter.
Soon after the meeting, which was first reported by The Times of India, Nalini's counsel had said they would move the court for her early release. Nalini was initially
given death sentence. It was later commuted to life imprisonment after Sonia Gandhi moved a clemency petition. She has already been in jail for about 17 years.
After hearing Nalini's plea for early release, the High Court said the advisory board which rejected a similar petition moved by her in 2006 had not been constituted
according to rules. Justice P Jyothimani made the observation after Nalini's latest petition came up for admission on Wednesday.
S Doraisamy, counsel for Nalini, said that under Section 335(2) of the Prison Rules, the advisory board should comprise seven members, with the inspector-general
(prisons) as its chairman. It should include the sessions judge, district collector, chief judicial magistrate, regional probation officer and a non-official member.
Superintendent of the prison concerned should be the secretary.
But, the committee which rejected Nalini's plea in December 2006, had only three members. Signature of the probation officer was obtained later as he did not
participate in the meeting, Doraisamy said.
Noting that the very constitution of the advisory board was improper, Doraisamy, assisted by V Elangovan, argued that the board did not consider the prisoner's
social history, her conduct and changes in her attitude while passing the order. It also failed to call for report from prison officials, psychologists and medicos.
Despite these shortcomings, the Home Secretary passed an order on October 30, 2007, rejecting her plea for premature release. In her petition, Nalini said that since
the state government had already consulted the Union government while commuting her death sentence into life imprisonment in 2000, there was no scope for further
consultation between the governments for her premature release. Justice Jyothimani posted the matter to June 10 for further hearing.
When Sonia asked for her clemency, she was moved by the fact that Nalini's daughter, born in jail, was just five years old. Today, the daughter is 16 and lives in
London with her Sri Lankan uncle, Arputham Kuildasan, who is Murugan's brother. The girl has been seeking an Indian citizenship on the ground that she was born in
India but her request hasn't been granted.
After TOI broke the news of Priyanka-Nalini meeting, Priyanka admitted that she had met one of the assassins of her father and said this was her way of coming to
terms with her father's death.
Arrested on June 14, 1991, Nalini was sentenced to death, along with 25 others, on January 28, 1998. On May 11, 1999, the SC confirmed the death sentence of
only four, including Nalini. Based on her clemency application, supported by a state cabinet recommendation and a public statement from Sonia Gandhi, and the then
Tamil Nadu governor commuted the death sentence into life imprisonment in 2000.

2ND LEAD (Correction)
British police arrests 3 persons for alleged 'support and fundraising' to LTTE[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 11:38 GMT]
Three men were arrested at separate addresses in Wales, south east England and Greater London Tuesday morning when British police officers from the
Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, supported by members of the Welsh police service, carried out searches under the Terrorism Act 2000 at a
number of residential and business addresses, according to a press release issued by the British High Commission in Colombo on Tuesday.
The LTTE is a proscribed organisation under the terms of the Terrorism Act 2000, which came into force in 2001, the British High Commission said.
Two people have previously been charged in connection with this investigation.
Full text of the press release issued by the British High Commission in Colombo follows:
BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONPRESS RELEASE
BRITISH POLICE ARREST THREE MEN UNDER TERRORISM ACT 2000
At approximately 6.30 am on 29 April police officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, supported by members of the Welsh police
service, carried out searches under the Terrorism Act 2000 at a number of residential and business addresses in Wales. Further searches were carried out in Surrey
in south east England and Greater London.
Three men were arrested at separate addresses on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The arrests are part of a long-term investigation into the alleged funding and procurement activity in support of terrorism overseas. The investigation relates to alleged
procurement, support and fundraising for the proscribed organisation, the LTTE .
Two people have previously been charged in connection with this investigation.
British High CommissionColombo4/29/08

BJP asks India to mediate between Sri Lanka and LTTE
CHENNAI, APR 29 (PTI)Asking the Centre to play a 'major role' to bring both the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to negotiating table, the BJP today said the recent meeting between
Priyanka Vadhra and Nalini, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case, was done with a 'motif'.
"The Indian Government should play a major role to bring both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government to negotiating table," BJP president Rajnath Singh told
reporters here.
Reacting to Priyanka's highly publicised visit to the Vellore Central Prison on March 19 to meet Nalini, he said "Her visit to see Nalini was a diplomatic tactics used
by the Congress with a motif."
He, however, did not elaborate.
Singh also termed as a "personal opinion" the former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra's statement that he preferred India to sign the nuclear deal with the US.
The BJP had not changed its stand of opposing the agreement.
Stating that BJP favoured implementation of the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project without affecting the Ram Sethu (Adam's Bridge) in the Palk Straits, he appealed
to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunandihi to re-align the project so as to preserve it.
Singh also demanded a white paper on inflation and accused the UPA Government of total failure to curb the rising inflation.
He said BJP rejected Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's stand that inflation was a global phenomenon as the rate of inflation in the US was three per cent and
four per cent in other developing countries.
Charging the UPA Government with total failure to curb the rising inflation, Singh said "The UPA should seek advice from the NDA as it had successfully tackled the
inflation. The NDA government had built huge rice and wheat stocks during its regime to tackle inflation and shortages."
On the Rs 60,000 crore agricultural loan waiver scheme, he said "the loan waiver is a disaster. He (Chidambaram) is yet to tell the country from where he will get the
money to accomplish the waiver. It will not benefit majority of the farmers who had borrowed money from private money lenders."
He also asked the Centre to come out with a report on the progress of investigation by the Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA), probing the conspiracy
angle in the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case.
On West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's statement that the BJP and the Congress were out to divide the country albeit in different ways, he said
"the Communists make ironical statements. If the Congress is dividing the country, how come they are supporting the Congress to run the government."
He alleged that the UPA government had become more anti-dalit and anti-poor by totally failing to come out with welfare measures for the Scheduled Castes.
He said the BJP welcomed the Supreme Court's verdict on exclusion of creamy layer from OBC reservation to educational institutions.

Is India breaking its silence over Sri Lanka?
By Satheesan Kumaaran Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The blessings of the Indian central government coupled with the recent events in India and abroad have brought a sense of hope to Sri Lankans that India will finally
break its 18 year silence on the Sri Lankan national question. Sri Lankans hope that the direct mediation of the Indian government will end the ethnic conflict and
finally bring peace to Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans do not want any more bloodshed on the island. The violence in Sri Lanka has taken thousands of lives since the ethnic
conflict began in the 1970s. Sri Lankans feel that there has been enough human sacrifice in the struggle for the solution to the national question to be delayed any
further.
When the international community called on both parties to end the ethnic conflict through talks, the warring sides only indulged in violence. Both sides accused each
other of violating the truce. The Scandinavian monitors (SLMM) failed to monitor the situation even as both parties engaged in military actions.
Since 1990, India has maintained its silence with its foreign ministry reporting that they did not want to risk getting directly involved to bring peace to the island. India
saw the LTTE as its arch enemy, even though India was home to Tamil military bases, including the LTTE. Furthermore, the killing of former India's prime minister in
May 1991spurred Indian policy makers to bring stern measures against the LTTE. It branded the LTTE as a banned outfit on its soil, motivating other countries to do
the same.
Given this relationship, India had no desire to become involved and end the bloodshed in Sri Lanka until recently.
LTTE's appeal to Tamil Nadu to save their brethren in Eelam
The LTTE issued an official statement on March 10, 2008, urging Tamil Nadu to act quickly to react to the Indian government's efforts to help the Sri Lankan
military. The statement was given after India's red carpet welcome to Sri Lanka Army Commander, Maj. General Sarath Fonseka, who was even taken to military
bases in Kashmir during his six-day visit to India.
The LTTE's statement said: "The Indian State must take the responsibility for the ethnic genocide of the Tamils that will be carried out by the Sinhala military, re-
invigorated by such moves of the Indian State…LTTE wishes to point out to the Indian State that by this historic blunder, it will continue to subject the Eelam Tamils
to misery and put them in the dangerous situation of having to face ethnic genocide on a massive scale."
And, to Tamil Nadu, the following statement was made: "On behalf of the Eelam Tamils, LTTE kindly requests the Tamils of Tamil Nadu to understand this anti-Tamil
move of the Indian State and express their condemnation.
Immediate reaction from coalition partner CPI The day after the LTTE issued the statement, the influential Communist Party of India (CPI - a coalition partner of India's ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA))
Tamil Nadu branch General-Secretary, Pandian, gave an interview to the BBC's Thamil Osai on March 11. He said: "The Sri Lankan government is engaging its
armed forces against the Tamils in an uncivilised way. In such a situation, receiving the Sri Lankan military chief in India or Indian military officials visiting Sri Lanka to
advice them should be avoided. The Sri Lankan government is unjust in every respect. Instead of condemning, it is despicable for Indian government to have any
relations with it. Even if there was any before, that should be terminated now."
He also lambasted the LTTE for appealing to the people of Tamil Nadu to condemn the Indian central government. He said that the LTTE does not have to advise
the Tamils in Tamil Nadu what they need to do because they know what is to be done. He said others (LTTE) need not tell them. But, will others (LTTE) listen to us?
In the meantime, the CPI national chapter adopted a resolution on March 26 during the party's four-day meeting in Hyderabad, seeking New Delhi's direct
intervention in Sri Lanka to end the ethnic problem towards finding a political settlement. The resolution also stated that: "India should immediately stop supplying
arms to Sri Lanka that was mindlessly killing Tamil people." It said: "The CPI appeals to the Indian government to exert its political influence over the Sri Lankan
government to stop using armed forces against her own people and restart the negotiations. The Indian government should stop all military supplies and help to Sri
Lankans till peace is restored in that island."
Vaiko and Lankan leaders engaged in heated arguments in Oslo Vaiko was among leading politicians from south Asia to visit Oslo to take part in the two-day International Conference on Peace and Reconciliation in South Asia
held on April 10 and 11 organized by the International Association for Human Values. Other participants included Sri Ravi Shankar (founder of Living Arts
Foundation - India), Jayalath Jeyawardene (UNP parliamentarian - Sri Lanka), Arumugam Thondaman (parliamentarian from Ceylon Workers Congress - Sri
Lanka), Colin Archer (Secretary General, International Peace Bureau -Switzerland), Erika Mann (Member of the European Parliament), Hilde Salvesen (Special
Advisor, The Oslo Center for Peace & Human Rights), Rajiva Wijesinha (Secretary General, Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process - Sri Lanka),
Hanssen-Bauer (Special Envoy of Sri Lanka, Foreign Ministry of Norway) and Brahmanawatte Seevali Nayaka Thero (Deputy Secretary General, Sri Lanka
Amarapura Mahanikaya).
Vaiko, gave a lengthy, aggressive speech in which he blamed the Sri Lankan government for unleashing violence against Tamils in Eelam. He branded the Sri Lankan
government a state-sponsored terror. He further asserted that Sri Lanka unilaterally broke the ceasefire agreement signed in 2002 with the facilitation of Norwegian
government.
He also accused Sri Lanka of not respecting human rights and having drawn the attention and the ire of international human rights organizations.
He said the eviction of Tamil-speaking Muslims from Jaffna by the LTTE was justified because of the hostility of Jaffna Tamils towards Sri Lanka-sponsored Muslim
militants' treatment of the slaughter of their brethren in the Muslim and Sinhala-predominant East. The LTTE evicted them from the North in order to protect them
from further violence. However, Vaiko expressed that the eviction by the LTTE was an unfortunate event.
He also highlighted the aerial bombardment by the Sri Lankan air force on the Chenchcholai orphanage where more than 60 schoolgirls were killed and 150 wounded
on August 14, 2006, in the LTTE-held Mullaitheevu while engaged in a two-day first aid residential course. He described this event as the tip of the ice berg and
many other events similar to this take place against civilian targets, the government labelling these targets as LTTE positions.
In response, Rajiva Wijesinha objected to all of Vaiko's claims saying that it was LTTE fighters who were killed in the aerial attack. He further said that the
government will amend the 13th Amendment, and that provincial elections would be held in the east (election, scheduled for next month).
Vaiko countered, saying that he had proof that it was children that were killed, not LTTE soldiers, and cited reports from international organizations that identified the
dead as orphans. He also said that the government is trying to hoodwink the international community by holding elections in the East. The Sri Lankan government
encourages anti-LTTE groups and will coerce the people in the East to vote for the pro-government and anti-LTTE groups at gun point. He said the Sri Lankan
government is committing a further blunder by dividing the North and East into two separate entities. Tamil leadership won't accept this concept. The North and East
are the traditional Tamil homeland, and these two provinces were recognized as a single unit when India and Sri Lanka signed the accord in 1987. He concluded that
no-one can prevent the birth of a separate 'Tamil Eelam'.
Tamil Nadu leaders demand India intervene directly to end Lanka national crisis Various Tamil Nadu leaders, including Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK leader, M. Karunanidhi, PMK leader, R. Ramadoss, VCK leader, Thol.
Thirumavalavan, MK leader, K. Veeramani, MDMK leader, Vaiko, and DMDK leader, Vijayakanth, have appealed to the Indian government to intervene directly
to end the Tamil question in Sri Lanka.
The PMK leader Ramadoss wrote a letter to the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on March 29 saying that: "Feelings of love, affection and mutual sympathy
are very strong and deep rooted between the Tamils on both sides of their historical waters." He described Sri Lanka as a failed state calling it "a condominium of
anarchy, and a shame on humanity that terrorized its own Tamil citizens." He further said: "It was not possible to remain by-standers to this human tragedy at our
doorstep." He further said: "The sixty-million Tamils in India cannot wait and watch while their sisters and brothers are being decimated across the Palk Straits and
Gulf of Mannar."
Further to the letter, he met face to face with Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on April 18. The meeting lasted 30 minutes and was described as cordial and fruitful.
Later, Ramadoss said that he submitted another copy of his letter during the meeting.
Vaiko met Manmohan Singh on March 17 and later with Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to brief them about his earlier trip to Europe, including his
participation at the two-day conference in Oslo as well as his meetings with Norwegian government representatives who facilitated the talks between the GoSL and
the LTTE.
During the meeting, Singh told Vaiko that he was aware of Pakistan and China supplying arms to Sri Lanka. Vaiko urged the Indian government to exert pressure on
Colombo to abide by its earlier pledge to honour the contiguity of the traditional homeland of Tamil speaking people in a merged Northeast.
During the meeting with Mukherjee, Vaiko expressed the plights of Eelam Tamils. In response, Mukherjee told Vaiko that India had repeatedly reminded Colombo
that a military solution would not solve the Tamil question.
In the meantime, Tamil Nadu chief minister, M. Karunanidhi, during an interview to the Times of India on April 18, said: "India should organize negotiations between
the warring parties in Sri Lanka to bring peace to the island nation....""to bring about peace in Sri Lanka, New Delhi should come forward to organise useful
negotiations so that a proper political solution is thrashed out."
In another political twist, the daughter of Rajiv Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra, visited Vellore in south India on March 19 and met Nalini Sriharan. The Indian national,
Nalini, married Sri Lankan national, Sriharan alias Murugan, and was sentenced to capital punishment for her involvement in the killing of Rajiv Gandhi on May 21,
1991. Her sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment after Rajiv's wife, Sonia Gandhi, pleaded for clemency.
While recalling her mother's intervention in Nalini's case to India's national news agency PTI Priyanka said, "I do not believe in anger, hatred and violence, and I
refuse to allow these things to overpower my life."
Sri Lankan Tamil leaders applauded the meeting between Nalini and Priyanka saying that the compassion shown by Sonia Gandhi and her children would never be
forgotten by Eelam Tamils. This is considered one of the political stepping stones toward India breaking its silence over the Sri Lankan issue.
The Indian Congress Party does not want to antagonize regional political parties because it would result in a tactical blow in next year's election to be held for Lok
Sabha. The Congress does not want the present Opposition Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) to win that election with the help of regional political parties, especially
with the support of DMK, MDMK, PMK or VCK. The Indian central government will have to face a greater challenge in keeping Colombo and Indian regional
political parties in balance in order to win the election, so it has to play a constructive role in bringing the warring parties to the negotiating table for its own political
survival.
Recent events in India show that the Indian central government is leaning toward directly intervening in Sri Lanka to mediate an end to the Tamil national question
between LTTE and GoSL. The events in Europe and India in favour of Eelam Tamils seem to indicate that the Indian central government and its intelligence units have
already established contacts within the LTTE and GoSL to stop the military overtures in Eelam and create a settlement through dialogue. The activities of Indian
politicians and religious leaders, as well as the Indian Congress party members amply demonstrate that India is trying to forget the past bitter experiences with the
view to bringing about a just and peaceful solution in Sri Lanka. In return, peace in Sri Lanka will no doubt help India's aspiration to become superpower in the region
and its own political survival. (The author can be reached at: satheessan_kumaaran@yahoo.com)
kosovo:
Georgia-Russia tensions ramped up
Russia has warned it will retaliate if Georgia uses force against its breakaway regions.
Moscow has accused Georgia of preparing to invade Abkhazia, and says it is boosting Russian forces there and in the South Ossetia region.
Georgia has reacted angrily to the Russian move, which its prime minister called "irresponsible".
The EU also urged caution, saying to increase troop numbers would be unwise given current tensions.
Russia's foreign minister said his country was not preparing for war but would "retaliate" against any attack.
Russia says Georgia is massing 1,500 soldiers and police in the upper Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia which remains under government control.
'Retaliatory measures'
A statement from the Russian foreign ministry said that "a bridgehead is being prepared for the start of military operations against Abkhazia".
In response, it said, it was increasing Russian peacekeepers in both Abkhazia and Georgia's other breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Georgia denies any build-up of its own forces in the area, and says that Russia is taking provocative action.
From now on, we consider every soldier or any unit of military equipment coming in [to Abkhazia] as illegal, potential aggressors and potential generators of
destabilisation Lado Gurgenidze Prime Minister of Georgia
"We think that this step, if they take it, will cause extreme destabilisation in the region," said Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze.
"From now on, we consider every [Russian] soldier or any unit of military equipment coming in [to Abkhazia and South Ossetia] as illegal, potential aggressors and
potential generators of destabilisation."
After meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called on Russia to show restraint.
"Even if the increase in peacekeepers is within limits, if we want to diminish the perception of tensions, I don't think it is a wise measure to increase now," Mr Solana
said.
Mr Lavrov said that Russia had to protect Russian-passport holders in the regions and that if Georgia took military action, Russia would have to take "retaliatory
measures".
Mr Solana's comments reflect a growing concern that Nato's promise to admit Georgia as a member one day, despite strong Russian opposition, could have
unpredictable consequences, says the BBC's European affairs correspondent Oana Lungescu.
Peacekeeping force
Russia has kept a peacekeeping force in Abkhazia and South Ossetia under an agreement made following the wars of the 1990s, when the regions broke away from
Tbilisi and formed links with Moscow.
There are around 2,000 Russians posted in Abkhazia, and about 1,000 in South Ossetia.
Tensions between Russia and Georgia have flared up recently, despite Russia lifting economic sanctions against Georgia earlier this month.
Last week Georgia accused a Russian plane of shooting down an unmanned Georgian spy plane - which Russian authorities insisted was shot down by Abkhaz
rebels.
And on Tuesday Georgia said it was blocking Russia's entry to the World Trade Organization.
Many in Abkhazia believe that Kosovo's announcement of independence from Serbia in February provides a precedent for it to be recognised as an individual state.
Although it has its own flag and postage stamps, it is not internationally recognised.
Our correspondent in the area says that with this latest statement the Russian government has pushed the already bellicose rhetoric between the two countries to a
new level.