Russians Left Their Mark on the Missile
// Georgia accuses Russia of missile attack
Russian-Georgian relations took another sharp turn for the worse yesterday after an unknown aircraft fired a missile at the Georgian village of Tsitelubani, located in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone. Authorities in Tbilisi have accused Russia of armed aggression against Georgia.
The Airplane Flew in and Fired
Late Monday evening, a resident of the Georgian village of Tsitelubani called the Rustavi 2 television company in Tbilisi and recounted live on the air the bombing of the village by a military aircraft that “flew in from the North,” that is, from the direction of Russia. “The airplane flew in and fired a missile. I saw it personally,” the caller said. “There was a big bang. It was a fighter plane. I served in the air force, I know it was a military plane.” A little later, Georgian Interior Minister Shota Khizanishvili stated that “At 6:30 p.m., two military planes entered Georgian air space from the direction of the Georgian Military Road heading toward Gori and fired an air-to-land missile.”
Yesterday morning, a monitoring group made up of representatives of the OSCE and the trilateral peacekeeping forces visited the scene of the incident. Commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent Murat Kulakhmetov told Kommersant that “On Monday at 6:40 p.m., the peacekeeping posts at Tsinagari and Gromi [villages in Gori and Leningorsky Districts not far from Tsitelubani] recorded the flight of an airplane. They saw an object separate from the plane and drop in that area. That presumably was the bomb that burst. We will investigate.”
Representatives of South Ossetia also made announcements of the missile attack, although they differed substantially from the Georgian account. South Ossetian Minister of Information and the Press Irina Gagloeva told Kommersant that two planes were seen in Leningorsky District, and they were Georgian. “The missile was intended for the Ossetian village of Tsinagara,” Gagloeva said. “But it fell a little closer, in Tsitelubani.” A spokesman for the South Ossetian Defense Minstry commented that “The story with the missile in Tsitelubani is a provocation. Obviously, Georgia has to present Russia as a dangerous aggressor. They are looking for any reason. Then they will get into NATO faster.” South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity stated that he will ask Russia to equip the Russian peacekeepers with air defense systems.
Condemning Aggression
Georgian television showed investigators working at the scene of the incident all day yesterday. Specialists were shown recovering fragments of the missile from a pit 5 meters in depth that formed at the spot where it landed. Close-ups were shown of fragments with the words “rudder brace” and letters “OTK” written on them in Russian. Minister Khizanishvili stated that the serial number of the missile had been recovered and will permit investigators to determine whom the missile belonged to.
That evening, the Georgian military stated confidently that “According to radar data, the planes took off from the airbase in the city of Mozdok, which is located in North Ossetia. One of the planes launched a guided missile weighing between 700 kg. and 1 ton.” The Georgian Interior Ministry added that the missile was an air-to-land model 3 m. in length with 80 kg. of explosives contained in it. “The time and place of the entry of the Russian military plane into Georgian airspace was recorded by military radars,” the Georgian Defense Ministry press service told Kommersant. “The plane didn't hurry, it circled for five minutes, then dropped the missile and flew away only after the Georgian Air Force planes took off. It is obvious to us that a violation of the state border of Georgia has taken place.”
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili visited the site of the incident with ambassador from European Union countries. “How long will this continue, and what will the European community do to prevent further violation of the borders of sovereign states?” he demanded of them.
Georgian politicians and analysts offered a number of explanations for the action. First, a mobile radar station is located 12 km. from Tsitelubani that can spot any flying object on the territory of South Ossetia, which may have been the target of the missile. Also, the temporary administration of South Ossetia, headed by Dmitry Sanakoev, who is loyal to Tbilisi, is headquartered in the nearby village of Kurta, and Tbilisi considers that village another possible intended target of the missile. Third, the missile strike may be intended to increase tension in the conflict zone and undermine trilateral talks that are scheduled to take place in Tbilisi on August 9 and in which Tbilisi is placing high hopes.
The Russian military dismisses all of those explanations. “If the missile had been launched with the intention of destroying some object, it would have exploded,” noted Gen. Kulakhmetov. “Such strikes are carried out with a very high degree of effectiveness. Considering the diameter of the missile, it could have had very serious consequences. Since it did not explode, it was not planned to. Who needed that provocation and why are questions we will try to answer very soon.”
Not an Argument
Midday yesterday, Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko was invited to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, where he was given a note of protest over “the violation of the airspace of Georgia and bombing of its territory by unidentified aircraft flying toward the village of Tsitelubani from Russian territory.” The ambassador was initially calm when he left the ministry. “Those photographs and the other [radar] data provided are not arguments,” he told journalists. “That weapon is found throughout the world. Those planes fly throughout the world. The Georgian Air Force has SU planes, by the way.”
When the journalists began asking him questions, the ambassador snapped, “Why are you bothering me? You will find out Russia's reaction when Moscow officially expresses its position!”
Yesterday evening, the Russian Air Force General Staff issued a statement saying, “Russian airplanes did not make any flights in the area of the village of Tsitelubani either Monday evening or Tuesday morning and, therefore, did not violate Georgian airspace.”
Olga Allenova; Vladimir Novikov, Tbilisi
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 08, 2007
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