TBILISI (AFP)--Rebels from the breakaway region of Abkhazia, backed by Russian forces, seized control Saturday of 13 Georgian villages and the lands around a power plant bordering the region, Georgia's foreign ministry said.
"Armed gangs of the Abkhazian separatist regime together with units of the Russian regular army shifted the administrative border of ... Abkhazia towards the Enguri River," the ministry said in a statement.
They seized two villages in the Zugdidi region, 11 villages in the Tsalenjikha region and land surrounding the Enguri Hydro Power plant, the statement said.