It remained under precarious control of the central Georgian government, but the government of the area was effectively been run, until the 2006 crisis, by a local authority and warlord Emzar Kvitsiani, who previously led the defense of the gorge against the Abkhaz separatist forces in the capacity of the commander of the local Monadire (literally: "Hunter") militia force and an envoy of the former President of Georgia named Eduard Shevardnadze.

Later on July 25, Alexandre Lomaia, the Minister of Education and Science, confirmed that the planned police operation was underway with the aim to restore constitutional order in the Kodori area.

Rustavi 2 also reported that a helicopter of the Russian peacekeepers landed in the rebel-controlled area to provide the rebels with food, but failed to fly back as the Georgians threatened to down it.

On July 27, Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili said in a televised interview that the main phase of the operation had been successfully completed, as most of the rebels had either surrendered or been captured.

"[5] The Georgian authorities denied the accusations, saying that the only force operating in the gorge are police and security services, and therefore they were not a violation of the previous ceasefire protocols.

On July 26, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Secretary General of NATO, on his meeting with the Georgian premier, Zurab Noghaideli, also expressed his support to Georgia's stance to the problems in Abkhazia and its fellow breakaway republic of South Ossetia.