Editing Second Chechen War (section)

===Kodori crisis and Pankisi Gorge crisis===
{{Main|2001 Kodori crisis|Pankisi Gorge crisis}}

On 8 October 2001, a [[United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia|UNOMIG]] helicopter was shot down in Georgia in [[Kodori Valley]] gorge near Abkhazia, amid [[2001 Kodori crisis|fighting between Chechens and Abkhazians]], killing nine including five UN observers.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1586098.stm UN helicopter shot down in Georgia] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420204439/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1586098.stm |date=20 April 2010 }} BBC News, 8 October 2001</ref> Georgia denied having troops in the area, and the suspicion fell on the armed group headed by Chechen warlord [[Ruslan Gelayev]], who was speculated to have been hired by the Georgian government to wage [[proxy war]] against separatist [[Abkhazia]].

Russian officials accused neighbouring [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] of allowing Chechen separatists to operate on Georgian territory and permitting the flow of militants and [[materiel]] across the border. In February 2002, the United States began offering assistance to Georgia to combat "criminal elements" and [[jihadist]] activity in the [[Pankisi Gorge]] as [[War on Terrorism: Pankisi Gorge|part of the War on Terrorism]]. 

In August 2002, Georgia accused Russia of a series of secret [[air strike]]s on purported separatists havens in the Pankisi Gorge in which a Georgian civilian was reported killed.

In late August 2002, Georgia deployed more than 1,000 troops to the gorge. The troops  detained an Arab man and six criminals, and on 2 September President Shevardnadze declared the region under control.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2231955.stm Georgia says gorge 'under control'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319153941/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2231955.stm |date=19 March 2016 }} BBC News, 2 September 2002</ref>

On 2 March 2004, following a number of cross-border raids from Georgia into Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan, Gelayev was killed in a clash with Russian border guards while trying to get back from Dagestan into Georgia.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}