Russian Peace Troops Deployed

TBILISI, Georgia -- Russian peacekeeping troops began deploying Friday close to a strategic river between the troubled Abkhazia region and the rest of Georgia, a spokesman for the Russian force said. The troops started taking up positions near the Inguri River, which marks the border between Georgia proper and Abkhazia, the spokesman said. The banks of the river are heavily mined. One battalion was sent to the area from the Georgian city of Batumi and a second came from a base in Armenia. Interfax reported that Russian commanders imposed a curfew in a 12-kilometer security zone along both riverbanks. Abkhaz rebel secessionists, backed by North Caucasian mercenaries, drove Georgian government troops out of the province last September after months of fighting. Georgia initially rejected Moscow's offer to send peacekeepers, but the mood changed last year when a Russian military contingent helped Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze beat off a rebellion in western Georgia.