Bagramyan Battalion
Encyclopedia
The Bagramyan Battalion was a battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

 formed in Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...

, Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 and predominantly composed of ethnic Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 living in Abkhazia that fought together with pro-independence Abkhaz forces during the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993). Named in honour of the Soviet Armenian Marshal Hovhannes Bagramyan
Hovhannes Bagramyan
Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan , also known as Hovhannes Khachaturi BaghramyanPronunciation: Bagramyan's name is most commonly written in English as Bagramyan "bahg-rahm-yahn" or Bagramian...

, the battalion's declared purpose was to protect ethnic Armenians living in the region from real or perceived excesses by the Georgian military.

On 10 May 1998, during hostilities leading to Six-Day War in Abkhazia (20-26 May 1998)
War in Abkhazia (1998)
The War in Abkhazia in 1998 took place in the Gali district of Abkhazia, after ethnic Georgians launched an insurgency against the Abkhazian secessionist government...

, there was a fire initiated on one of administrative buildings of the power grid in Mziuri. No one was injured in the attack. The Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

-based Prime-News agency reported it was done by the members of the battalion. According to the official Georgian reports, the battalion was dispatched by the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

 Abkhaz authorities to the predominantly Georgian-populated Gali district
Gali district
Gali district is a district of Abkhazia. Its capital is Gali, the town by the same name. The district is smaller than the eponymous one in the de jure subdivision of Georgia, as some of its former territory is now part of Tkvarcheli District, formed by de facto Abkhaz authorities in 1995.Gali...

specifically for punitive operations.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK