Georgia summoned Russia's ambassador to its foreign ministry on Monday to protest against Russian soldiers reopening railway lines in its breakaway region of Abkhazia. The United States has already expressed its dismay at Russia's decision to send the unarmed soldiers into the region over the weekend to rebuild rail routes damaged during a war between Abkhazia and Georgia in the 1990s. But Russia's ambassador to Georgia, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, defended the military deployment, the Associated Press reported. "Any humanitarian action for the restoration of bridges and railway is aimed at making the lives of people living in the region better," he said. "Any humanitarian action should be welcomed." Georgia's foreign ministry has already complained to the Russian envoy dozens of times during the long-running dispute. Russian soldiers patrol between the Abkhazian and Georgian forces under the terms of a 1994 U.N. ceasefire.
