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French instructors will arrive in Georgia this year to train a Georgian mountain rifle battalion, joining American Special Forces instructors. France will also help Georgia integrate into NATO by training Georgian officers in French higher military schools.
The Federal Border Guard Service believes that the 500 rebels deployed along the Chechen-Georgian border are moving in three directions: some are preparing for a new attack on Chechnya, others are moving to the Kodori Gorge on Georgia's border with Abkhazia, while those reluctant to fight will move to Azerbaijan or Turkey. - Adam Geibel
Russia says it will continue to strike targets in Georgia as long as Chechen rebels operating from there.