Operational Timeline
During the evening hours of October 3rd 2001, a 400-500 men-strong Georgian-Chechen joint fighter group which was led by the commander Ruslan Gelayev captured village Георгиевское (Абхазия) [ ru ] of Gulripshi region, they entered the gorge from the Georgian side and attacked the village. [28] [33] Then, on October 8, 2001 9:20AM, [34] a helicopter carrying United Nations observers was shot down over Kodori, near Lake Amtkeli [35] with grenade launchers or missile projectiles, [36] killing around ten, [37] on the same day, during nightime, unidentified assailants attacked the village of Naa [spelled also Haa] with alleged air support killing 14 people in the process, [38] [39] concurrently then President Eduard Shevardnadze allowed the US Military to use it's Black Sea airspace if necessary in any operations against targets in Afghanistan. [40] And on the next day, nine unidentified aircraft bombed the gorge which was under Georgian control including two villages. [41] [42] [43] The Russian air force carried out air strikes on Chechen fighters during the same period, because they [Chechens] had infiltrated the gorge. [8] On the 10th Abkhazian forces had surrounded ~200 combatants of Georgian,Chechen,Azeri and Arab origin, and on the same day fighting resulted in the death of six fighters and the capture of two. [44] On the 11th, Georgia sent troops to reinforce its position on the gorge as a defensive precaution against potential Abkhaz intrusion. [45] On the 12th, the Georgian parliament voted for the withdrawal of CIS Peacekeepers from Abkhazia with a result of 157-2. [46] [47] On the 16th Abkhaz helicopters attacked Georgian and Chechen rebels in the disputed Kodori Gorge. [48] A group of fighters was intercepted by Abkhaz forces near Ilori on October 17, during the same day, the Abkhazian Defence Ministry officials said that the lower part of the valley was again under the Abkhazian control, [49] concurrently multiple airspace violation were noticed near Mestia which included allegedly ten SU-25 Jet fighters. [50] During the low-intensity period of the crisis [specifically on October 30th] an apparent "state coup" almost occurred in Georgia under the alleged auspices of then Security Minister Vakhtang Kutateladze. [51]
Aftermath
The crisis was largely neglected by the world media, which was focused on the concurrent US attack on Afghanistan.
On 9 November 2001 – Then President Eduard Shevardnadze entertained the possibility of bringing Turkish peacekeepers to replace the Russian one's that were part of the Commonwealth of Independent States. [52]
On 21 December 2001 – Several hundred protesters are gathered in front of the State Chancellery of Eduard Shevardnadze demanding withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping forces deployed in Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States. [53]
On 12 August 2002 – Then Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze reported that Abkhaz fighters, along with up to 100 Russian soldiers, entered the previously demilitarized upper Kodori Gorge. Georgian authorities also claimed that Russian forces fired on Georgian helicopters, though no casualties were reported. Negotiations between the Georgian government and Abkhaz representatives were stated to be underway at the time. [54]
On 5 August 2004 – Valery Chkhetiani, one of the Georgian fighters captured by Abkhaz forces, suffered a stroke during a walk and was brought to a hospital, where he died two days later, on 7 August. Chkhetiani, a resident of Kutaisi born in 1973, had been condemned to a prison sentence of 15 years. [55]
On 29 July 2006 – Mart Laar, former prime minister of Estonia and then adviser to the Georgian president, was quoted as saying that the Kodori conflict was engineered by Russia. Laar also warned that future provocations of Georgia by Russia are to be expected, but that Georgia has prepared itself to make it through any challenges posed by Russia. [56]
On 30 April 2008 – Russia accused Georgia of massing 1500 troops in the Kodori region in preparation to invade Abkhazia. Georgia maintained the troops were present in accordance with a 1994 accord that allowed for peacekeeping forces in the region and were essential to maintaining order after the 2001 Kodori crisis. Russia responded by deploying troops to the region, further escalating tensions between Russia and Georgia. These forces would later take part in the war in 2008. [57]
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CIS [10] 
Chechen division under Gelayev 
Georgian guerrillas, [11] Monadire,
United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia [12] 
Vladislav Ardzinba,