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Re: The Struggle for Caucasia
Georgia Seeks U.N. Security Council Session About Missile
The Republic of Georgia presented what it called a mounting body of evidence on Wednesday that a Russian warplane had entered deep into its airspace and fired an air-to-ground missile. It said it was seeking a special session of the United Nations Security Council to address the matter. No one was injured by the missile, which struck on Monday evening near Tsitelubani, a village about 30 miles from Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. The missile broke apart on impact, but did not explode. The Georgian military later detonated the missile.
The episode, apparently the second raid with sophisticated, Russian-made weapons on Georgian soil this year, inflamed tensions anew between the countries. Russia has denied any role, and suggested that Georgia attacked itself. It has also said it wants a comprehensive investigation of the matter. But with Georgia marshaling its evidence and its foreign minister, Gela Bezhuashvili, rallying international support, the matter seemed to pose problems for Russian diplomacy in the turbulent Caucasus. Estonia and Latvia condemned the episode as an act of aggression against Georgia, and Britain called for an investigation.
Mr. Bezhuashvili said he hoped to set up an international panel. “We have a body of evidence,” he said by telephone. “There is a common understanding of the seriousness of the situation, and we are initiating a process of calling for a special session of the U.N. Security Council.” In March, a guided missile and a barrage of unguided rockets struck remote villages late at night in the Kodori Gorge, the only area of the Russian-backed separatist region of Abkhazia that is under Georgian control. More than 50 witnesses reported the sound of helicopters, which Georgia said flew in from a Russian base.
Russia denied involvement in that attack, although United Nations investigators issued a report this summer that strongly suggested a Russian role. It fell short of directly accusing Russia, in part because Russia did not cooperate fully with investigators and there was no radar record available. The latest missile, however, was from an aircraft that flew near a main highway outside Tbilisi, an area with radar coverage.
Georgia said it had collected radar records from both its civilian and military air traffic controllers that clearly show an aircraft enter from Russia, fly to the area of the strike, then turn around and fly back into Russia. Georgia also released audio recordings and a transcript of an apparently frustrated Georgian air traffic controller. The controller was talking with his counterpart in southwestern Russia, asking about an unscheduled flight along the border that he was seeing on his screen, the Georgian government said.
The Russian controller checked with his supervisor, according to the recording, which was released to journalists. He then told the Georgian controller that no planes were flying. “Our bosses said that nobody is there, neither by plan nor in reality,” the Russian said. “Well, O.K., it might be a U.F.O.,” the Georgian answered. Georgia has long accused Russia of conducting military flights across the border; Mr. Bezhuashvili said there were multiple incursions on Saturday and Sunday. He added that a tepid international response to the incursions, and the limited response to the attack in the Kodori Gorge in March, had emboldened Russia.
The Kremlin, which continues to wage a counterinsurgency campaign against Chechen separatists and Islamic militants in the north Caucasus, backs secular separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two breakaway regions over the border in Georgia. It has tried to portray the region as peaceful, and will be the host of the 2014 Winter Olympics not far away, in Sochi. No motive for the missile firing was immediately clear. But Shota Utiashvili, the head of the analysis department for Georgia’s Interior Ministry, said the plane might have released the missile after taking fire from Ossetian separatists on the ground.
On Tuesday, the commander of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia said on Russian national television that the Ossetians had fired at a plane, apparently thinking it was Georgian. Because the missile did not explode, many of the fragments were recovered. Georgia, which briefed foreign diplomats, said the remains made clear that the missile was an AS-Kilter, a guided missile nearly 16 feet long that was designed in Soviet times to destroy NATO radar installations. The missile can carry an explosive charge of more than 300 pounds. Georgia said it had neither AS-11 Kilter missiles nor aircraft that can fire them.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/wo...nt&oref=slogin
In related news:
Breakaway S.Ossetia asks Russia for air defenses in conflict zone
South Ossetia will formally request that Russia deploy air defense systems in the zone of conflict with Georgia in the wake of an airspace violation dispute this week, the breakaway region's leader said Thursday. "South Ossetia will approach Russia with a request to equip [Russian] peacekeepers in the conflict zone with modern air defense systems to target airspace violators," Eduard Kokoity told RIA Novosti by telephone.
On Tuesday, Georgia accused Russia of firing a missile on a village 65 kilometers (about 40 miles) northwest of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and near the border with its breakaway region Monday. The 640-kilogram (1,400-pound) missile did not explode, but has fueled tensions between the former Soviet allies. Russia, which Tbilisi has accused of backing separatists, has denied involvement in the incident, demanding a thorough probe and saying it was "a new provocation" staged by Tbilisi to destabilize the region. South Ossetia echoed the accusations, saying the aircraft came from Georgia's side.
"To deter more provocations from Georgia, we will ask the Russian leadership to reinforce the peacekeeping units in the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict zone ... so they can bring down violators. It will then be clear whose aircraft entered the conflict zone," Kokoity said. The commander of joint peacekeeping forces said Thursday Tbilisi had denied information of an intruding aircraft the day before accusing Russia of doing so. "On August 6, when the incident occurred, I contacted the command of the Georgian part of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces and informed them of the intrusion and the launch [of a missile]. A report followed one hour later that the [Georgian] Armed Forces denied any intrusion whatsoever," Kulakhmetov said.
He also said peacekeepers could not identify the unexploded missile, as Georgia had rushed to destroy it. Dismissing Russian and South Ossetian charges Wednesday, Georgia said, citing experts, that it was a Russian-designed anti-radar guided missile not in use in Georgia's Armed Forces. Tbilisi has demanded that the European Union step in and that the UN Security Council hold an emergency session on the matter. The United States condemned what it called a rocket attack on Georgia and urged Moscow and Tbilisi to ensure a peaceful resolution in the breakaway region in a State Department statement late Wednesday. Europe also called on restraint from the parties involved.
Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20070809/70680398.html
South Ossetia: Georgian troops plant landmines and launch grenades at peacekeepers and civilians, destroy property
A peacekeeping post of the South Ossetian side to the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPF) in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone was attacked by fire. The fire was held from a Georgian post near Dvani Village from automatic grenade launcher AGS-17. Under the grenade fire also happened to be working harvesting combines from Mugut Village of South Ossetia’s Znaur Region. Another incident occurred on the outskirts of an Ossetian village Ubiat of the Znaur Region of South Ossetia. Several cows were killed in antipersonnel landmines’ explosions planted by the Georgian side. The cows were property of the Ossetian village residents.
“These provoking action became possible because of the lenience of the peacekeepers’ Command. For over three months, illegal Georgian posts have been set up and acting in the Command’s jurisdiction,” reads statement issued by South Ossetian side to JCC.
“Georgian detachments without insignia organized in the region long-term gun posts and support structures, to which Command has given no reaction.”
“As a result of such ‘appeasement policy,’ Georgian detachments, who are enjoying full impunity, organize provocations, already against peacekeepers themselves.”
“The number of such provoking acts of aggression increases each week; however, nothing is done to prevent them. This, undoubtedly, undermines trust of the local population to the JPF Command,” the South Ossetian side to JCC says in the statement.
Source: http://www.regnum.ru/english/868416.html
Georgia Seeks U.N. Security Council Session About Missile
The Republic of Georgia presented what it called a mounting body of evidence on Wednesday that a Russian warplane had entered deep into its airspace and fired an air-to-ground missile. It said it was seeking a special session of the United Nations Security Council to address the matter. No one was injured by the missile, which struck on Monday evening near Tsitelubani, a village about 30 miles from Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. The missile broke apart on impact, but did not explode. The Georgian military later detonated the missile.
The episode, apparently the second raid with sophisticated, Russian-made weapons on Georgian soil this year, inflamed tensions anew between the countries. Russia has denied any role, and suggested that Georgia attacked itself. It has also said it wants a comprehensive investigation of the matter. But with Georgia marshaling its evidence and its foreign minister, Gela Bezhuashvili, rallying international support, the matter seemed to pose problems for Russian diplomacy in the turbulent Caucasus. Estonia and Latvia condemned the episode as an act of aggression against Georgia, and Britain called for an investigation.
Mr. Bezhuashvili said he hoped to set up an international panel. “We have a body of evidence,” he said by telephone. “There is a common understanding of the seriousness of the situation, and we are initiating a process of calling for a special session of the U.N. Security Council.” In March, a guided missile and a barrage of unguided rockets struck remote villages late at night in the Kodori Gorge, the only area of the Russian-backed separatist region of Abkhazia that is under Georgian control. More than 50 witnesses reported the sound of helicopters, which Georgia said flew in from a Russian base.
Russia denied involvement in that attack, although United Nations investigators issued a report this summer that strongly suggested a Russian role. It fell short of directly accusing Russia, in part because Russia did not cooperate fully with investigators and there was no radar record available. The latest missile, however, was from an aircraft that flew near a main highway outside Tbilisi, an area with radar coverage.
Georgia said it had collected radar records from both its civilian and military air traffic controllers that clearly show an aircraft enter from Russia, fly to the area of the strike, then turn around and fly back into Russia. Georgia also released audio recordings and a transcript of an apparently frustrated Georgian air traffic controller. The controller was talking with his counterpart in southwestern Russia, asking about an unscheduled flight along the border that he was seeing on his screen, the Georgian government said.
The Russian controller checked with his supervisor, according to the recording, which was released to journalists. He then told the Georgian controller that no planes were flying. “Our bosses said that nobody is there, neither by plan nor in reality,” the Russian said. “Well, O.K., it might be a U.F.O.,” the Georgian answered. Georgia has long accused Russia of conducting military flights across the border; Mr. Bezhuashvili said there were multiple incursions on Saturday and Sunday. He added that a tepid international response to the incursions, and the limited response to the attack in the Kodori Gorge in March, had emboldened Russia.
The Kremlin, which continues to wage a counterinsurgency campaign against Chechen separatists and Islamic militants in the north Caucasus, backs secular separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two breakaway regions over the border in Georgia. It has tried to portray the region as peaceful, and will be the host of the 2014 Winter Olympics not far away, in Sochi. No motive for the missile firing was immediately clear. But Shota Utiashvili, the head of the analysis department for Georgia’s Interior Ministry, said the plane might have released the missile after taking fire from Ossetian separatists on the ground.
On Tuesday, the commander of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia said on Russian national television that the Ossetians had fired at a plane, apparently thinking it was Georgian. Because the missile did not explode, many of the fragments were recovered. Georgia, which briefed foreign diplomats, said the remains made clear that the missile was an AS-Kilter, a guided missile nearly 16 feet long that was designed in Soviet times to destroy NATO radar installations. The missile can carry an explosive charge of more than 300 pounds. Georgia said it had neither AS-11 Kilter missiles nor aircraft that can fire them.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/wo...nt&oref=slogin
In related news:
Breakaway S.Ossetia asks Russia for air defenses in conflict zone
South Ossetia will formally request that Russia deploy air defense systems in the zone of conflict with Georgia in the wake of an airspace violation dispute this week, the breakaway region's leader said Thursday. "South Ossetia will approach Russia with a request to equip [Russian] peacekeepers in the conflict zone with modern air defense systems to target airspace violators," Eduard Kokoity told RIA Novosti by telephone.
On Tuesday, Georgia accused Russia of firing a missile on a village 65 kilometers (about 40 miles) northwest of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and near the border with its breakaway region Monday. The 640-kilogram (1,400-pound) missile did not explode, but has fueled tensions between the former Soviet allies. Russia, which Tbilisi has accused of backing separatists, has denied involvement in the incident, demanding a thorough probe and saying it was "a new provocation" staged by Tbilisi to destabilize the region. South Ossetia echoed the accusations, saying the aircraft came from Georgia's side.
"To deter more provocations from Georgia, we will ask the Russian leadership to reinforce the peacekeeping units in the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict zone ... so they can bring down violators. It will then be clear whose aircraft entered the conflict zone," Kokoity said. The commander of joint peacekeeping forces said Thursday Tbilisi had denied information of an intruding aircraft the day before accusing Russia of doing so. "On August 6, when the incident occurred, I contacted the command of the Georgian part of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces and informed them of the intrusion and the launch [of a missile]. A report followed one hour later that the [Georgian] Armed Forces denied any intrusion whatsoever," Kulakhmetov said.
He also said peacekeepers could not identify the unexploded missile, as Georgia had rushed to destroy it. Dismissing Russian and South Ossetian charges Wednesday, Georgia said, citing experts, that it was a Russian-designed anti-radar guided missile not in use in Georgia's Armed Forces. Tbilisi has demanded that the European Union step in and that the UN Security Council hold an emergency session on the matter. The United States condemned what it called a rocket attack on Georgia and urged Moscow and Tbilisi to ensure a peaceful resolution in the breakaway region in a State Department statement late Wednesday. Europe also called on restraint from the parties involved.
Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20070809/70680398.html
South Ossetia: Georgian troops plant landmines and launch grenades at peacekeepers and civilians, destroy property
A peacekeeping post of the South Ossetian side to the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPF) in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone was attacked by fire. The fire was held from a Georgian post near Dvani Village from automatic grenade launcher AGS-17. Under the grenade fire also happened to be working harvesting combines from Mugut Village of South Ossetia’s Znaur Region. Another incident occurred on the outskirts of an Ossetian village Ubiat of the Znaur Region of South Ossetia. Several cows were killed in antipersonnel landmines’ explosions planted by the Georgian side. The cows were property of the Ossetian village residents.
“These provoking action became possible because of the lenience of the peacekeepers’ Command. For over three months, illegal Georgian posts have been set up and acting in the Command’s jurisdiction,” reads statement issued by South Ossetian side to JCC.
“Georgian detachments without insignia organized in the region long-term gun posts and support structures, to which Command has given no reaction.”
“As a result of such ‘appeasement policy,’ Georgian detachments, who are enjoying full impunity, organize provocations, already against peacekeepers themselves.”
“The number of such provoking acts of aggression increases each week; however, nothing is done to prevent them. This, undoubtedly, undermines trust of the local population to the JPF Command,” the South Ossetian side to JCC says in the statement.
Source: http://www.regnum.ru/english/868416.html
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