(Adds details and quotes) MOSCOW, June 7 (Reuters) - Russia will withdraw 400 soldiers sent to repair damaged railway lines in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia within the next two months, Interfax quoted the Russian Ministry of Defence as saying on Saturday. The extra soldiers have angered Georgia and its allies in the West who have called for Russia to withdraw them. "It is expected they will leave the republic in the next two months," defence ministry spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov told Interfax news agency. Abkhazia is a sliver of land wedged between the Black Sea and Russia which broke away from the former Soviet republic of Georgia in a war after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Under the terms of a 1994 ceasefire Russia is allowed 3,000 soldiers to patrol between the two sides. This year Moscow has accused Georgia of planning to invade Abkhazia and has sent extra soldiers to bolster the peacekeeping contingent. The extra 400 soldiers which arrived in Abkhazia on May 31 to repair railway lines were in addition to the peacekeepers. Kuznetsov defended their presence and said they would leave after they had repaired 54 km (34 miles) of railway. "The extra battalion in Abkhazia poses no threat to Georgia," he said. "They are not armed, they are just construction workers." Georgia accuses Russia of trying to undermine its stability by supporting the rebels. Former Soviet Georgia wants to join NATO, an ambition which angers Russia. (Writing by James Kilner; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
A protester holds a picture of Mikhail Khodorkovsky of Russia during a demonstration in Moscow May 31, 2008, marking the third anniversary of the date when Khodorkovsky was sentenced. The former ...
