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Tank battalion mutiny at Georgia base 'under control'
Ed Harris05.05.09
Georgia's president Mikhail Saakashvili today said a mutiny at an army base near the capital had been brought under control.
A tank battalion rebelled after the interior ministry announced that it had uncovered a Russian-backed plot to overthrow the government and had arrested the suspected organiser.
The base at Mukhrovani, about 20 miles from Tbilisi, was sealed off, defence minister David Sikharulidze said.
The tank battalion's commander, Mamuka Gorgishvili, said his soldiers would take no aggressive action to interfere in the political situation in the country and would stay in the barracks.
President Saakashvili has been the target of more than three weeks of protests by opposition demonstrators demanding his resignation. Interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the coup plotters, backed by Russian troops, were planning to disrupt Nato military exercises set to begin in Georgia tomorrow. Russia's Nato envoy Dmitri Rogozin was reported as saying the allegations were "crazy".
Mr Utiashvili said the suspected coup plot was organised by a former special forces commander, Georgy Gvaladze, who had been arrested along with an army officer on active duty.
The interior ministry claimed it had a video of Mr Gvaladze telling supporters that 5,000 Russian troops would come to back the coup, which was planned for Thursday.
Opposition leader Georgy Khaindrava said the reports of the planned coup were made up. "It's nothing but a tall tale, and we've heard so many of them already. Saakashvili could not make up anything smarter," he said.
