Georgian military left the gorge on 12 August 2008.[22][23] Georgia's Deputy Interior Minister, Eka Zhguladze, said, that Georgian troops had withdrawn from the Kodori gorge as a "goodwill gesture."[24] Abkhaz Deputy Defense Minister, Major General Anatoly Zaitsev, claimed, that "only local forces - not Russian ones" were involved in the military operation. But an AP reporter in the area saw 135 Russian military vehicles driving to the Kodori gorge. Georgian officials said, their troops in the Kodori gorge were being attacked by Russians.[22] On 13 August 2008, president Sergei Bagapsh flew into the gorge by helicopter to declare, that the last piece of Georgian-held land in Abkhazia was back under the control of the separatist authorities.