Georgia Identifies Russian Missile
// And destroys it on the spot
The scandal surrounding the missile dropped in Gori District in Georgia continues to develop. Experts from the Georgian Defense Ministry identified it as an antiradar guided missile of Russian manufacture. Georgia does not have missiles of that type in its arsenal. Georgia demanded that an extraordinary session of the UN Security Council be called to discuss the incident. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry denied all accusations made against the Russian Air Force and called the incident a “new provocation” that threatens to complicate the situation in the region. Kommersant has attempted to find out what the experts were able to determine from the wreckage of the Kh-58 missile.
Georgian Defense Ministry experts made public their findings from a day's study of the wreckage of the missile that fell near the Georgian village of Tsitelubani Monday evening. It was a Russian-made Kh-58 antiradar guided missile 4.8 m. in length, 0.38 m. in diameter weighing 640 kg. The missile, according to the Georgian experts, carried a warhead with 140 kg. of explosives.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry confirmed those details and added that the missile was dropped by an Su-24 aircraft that entered Georgian airspace from Russian territory. Georgian diplomats cite the country's defense ministry as claiming that the country has neither aircraft nor missiles of the types mentioned.
Georgia is convinced that its findings fully prove the involvement of the Russian Air Force in the violation of Georgia's airspace. The Russians, however, continue to insist what occurred in the Gori District of Georgia was a provocation intended to discredit Russia. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin stated yesterday that the incident “is strongly reminiscent of seen in the provocation undertaken in Kodor Gorge on March 11.” Kodor Gorge was subjected to missile fire in March of this year that Abkhazia blamed on Georgia and Georgia blamed on Russia.
The leadership of South Ossetia also put forward the theory that the incident was an attempt to discredit Russia's role as intermediary in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict. Dmitry Medoev, aide to the president of South Ossetia, cited information gathered by the South Ossetian special services when he stated that “the Su-25 aircraft that violated the airspace of South Ossetia and dropped an air missile on its territory belongs to Georgia and is part of the Georgian Air Force.” The South Ossetian Defense Ministry told Kommersant the same thing. “The missile was dropped by an Su-25. That airplane flew in from the direction of Tbilisi and was picked up by Russian radar,” a spokesman there said. Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution David Bakradze replied to those claims that “If Russian radar has detected our airplanes over South Ossetia, that information would have been provided to us.”
Russian representative on the joint control commission Yury Popov had stated earlier that “There are many doubtful points. As far as I know, it was not an Su-24, but an Su-25.” The identification of the aircraft that dropped the missile is important to both Russia and Georgia. The Georgian Air Force uses the Su-25 model, while there are Su-24 aircraft based at the military airports in Mozdok in North Ossetia and outside Vladikavkaz.
South Ossetian officials assert that the investigation of the incident has to be based on the question of who benefits from the complication it causes in relations between Russia and Georgia. “You see, Georgia comes out the winner again,” said South Ossetian Minister of Press and Information Olga Gagloeva. “Georgia has been trying to convince the world community for a long time that Russia plays a destabilizing role in this region. Georgia needs Russia and its peacekeepers to leave here. The Saakashvili will be able to start a war here. He has no choice, he has to convince his citizens before the election that he's doing something.”
A source in the Georgian Defense Ministry told Kommersant that “If the missile has exploded, Russia would have been the winner.” A Georgian military officer said that “The missile had a specific target, but it did not explode, most likely because the Georgia Air Force plane answering the alarm scared the Russian pilot off and he dropped the missile without activating the launch mechanism. Georgian Defense Ministry joint staff representative Georgy Tateshvili noted that “Twelve kilometers from the village of Tsitelubani, there is a mobile radar station [RLS 36D6]. According to our information, that station was the target of the Russian fighter jet.”
Two 36D6-M radar stations were purchased by Georgia in Ukraine last year. One of them is now located outside Tbilisi, and the other is in the conflict zone, about which Russia and South Ossetia have repeated complained in the joint control commission. According to unofficial information, the purpose of placing the radar station in the conflict zone was to establish control over the airspace of the unrecognized republic. Georgia claims that helicopter fly into South Ossetia from North Ossetia periodically delivering arms and ammunition. That, in the opinion of the Georgian military, is the reason Russian pilots tried to destroy the station. “In any case, Georgia has no airplanes that carry such missiles,” they add in the Georgian Defense Ministry.
At the Raduga design bureau in Dubna, Kommersant was told that Su-25 airplanes, which the Georgian Air Force has, are capable of carrying modified Kh-58 missiles. “The Kh-58 was widely distributed through the republics of the former USSR at one time, and they are in the arsenals of CIS countries and other countries in various modifications,” Raduga deputy general director Vitaly Larionov told Kommersant. “The given missile has a high degree of effectiveness. It is oriented to its target and, once it is launched, the pilot can fly away without waiting for the result. Such missiles are called shot and forget.'”
In Larionov's opinion, there are a number of inconsistencies in the Kh-58 incident. For example, explosive disposal engineers would never remove an unexploded missile from the ground. It is too dangerous. But Georgian engineers raised the missile, with its warhead, from the ground in front of a large number of television cameras. “That would happen only if the specialists were sure the missile wouldn't explode,” Larionov reasoned. “It is possible that an imitation missile drop took place, but really it was camouflage – they brought their own missile in, wrecked it and buried it.” At Raduga, they do not dismiss the Georgian interpretation either, that the missile was not launched but jettisoned because of carelessness or technical problems. That would explain why the missile flew almost straight down and impacted deeply into the earth unexploded instead of flying on a set trajectory parallel to the earth.
The combined peacekeeping forces maintained silence yesterday. An aide to commander Murat Kulakhmetov only told journalists that the monitoring group studying the site of the missile's landing was unable to gather needed data and decided to repeat its procedure. They will not be able to study the wreckage of the Kh-58, however. That wreckage was destroyed yesterday at sunset.
Olga Allenova, Fedor Maximov
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 09, 2007
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