Energy News  
Georgia And Russia Deadlocked Over Mystery Missile Strike

The missile did not explode and caused no injuries, but Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Russia of bombarding Georgia, raising the stakes in already tense relations between the pro-Western country and its Soviet-era master.
by Irakli Metreveli
Tbilisi (AFP) Aug 09, 2007
Georgia attempted to rally international support Thursday behind its allegations that a Russian plane engaged in a missile strike on its territory, amid angry denials from Moscow. Georgia's minister for conflict resolution, David Bakradze, released a report he said was written by Europe's main security and democracy body, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The report, which has not been released by the OSCE, says that military observers in Georgia at the time of Monday's incident saw one aircraft flying from the northeast.

"There is no other country than Russia to the northeast," said Bakradze.

Other monitors reported seeing a plane fly from southwest to northeast, the report said.

An OSCE spokeswoman in Vienna, Virginie Coulloudon, confirmed the document was genuine, but stressed that it was "an internal report that does not represent the position of the OSCE."

The United Nations Security Council said it would wait for more information before acting after the 4.8 metre (15.7-foot) missile landed in a field some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Georgian capital on Monday.

"We are looking forward to hear more about the facts ... from OSCE particularly ... so that would enable the Security Council to have a full picture of the situation before engaging any action," said a statement from Congolese ambassador to the UN Pascal Gayama, who is presiding over the Security Council this month.

The missile did not explode and caused no injuries, but Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Russia of bombarding Georgia, raising the stakes in already tense relations between the pro-Western country and its Soviet-era master.

Meanwhile, Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili engaged in a round of telephone diplomacy to try to secure the holding of a UN Security Council session to discuss the incident.

"The Georgian foreign ministry is working very actively to obtain adequate international support over this missile incident and the minister held a series of conversations with his foreign counterparts," his spokeswoman, Nino Kizhaia, said.

Russia has been infuriated by Georgia's preparations to join the Western-led NATO military alliance, regarding them as an incursion into its historical sphere of influence.

On Thursday a NATO spokeswoman said that the alliance's Deputy Secretary General Alessandro Minuto Rizzo had spoken by phone with Bezhuashvili.

"They agreed that NATO would stay in close contact with the Georgian authorities and that it will follow the ongoing investigations," said the spokeswoman, Carmen Romero.

But Russia again rejected claims that one of its jets had entered Georgian airspace and released a missile.

Senior air force officer Igor Khvorov told journalists in Moscow "we didn't plan or carry out any flights over Georgian territory.... It's fairly difficult to talk about the flight because there was none."

Russia also accused Georgia of tampering with evidence.

A senior Russian officer, Major General Marat Kulakhmetov, said that Georgian officials had removed "all the main pieces of the explosive device" before investigators arrived at the scene.

However, a spokesman for the Georgian interior ministry, Shota Khizanishvili, said that part of the missile had simply been destroyed for safety as it "contained a large quantity of TNT."

In a statement, the OSCE urged "an inclusive investigation" with "participation of all implicated parties."

Meanwhile the United States said it was looking into the incident.

Such "provocations need to end," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack warned.

Later Thursday another US official indicated on Georgian television that Washington did not believe assertions that Georgia had attacked itself.

"We listened to the statement that it was Georgia who bombarded its own territory. But there is no any evidence to say that this is the case," said Matthew Bryza, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.

"The most important thing is that Georgia undertake a credible investigation. Georgia has presented serious information which must now be examined within the United Nations," he said, according to comments translated first into Georgian and then back to English by AFP.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
News From Across The Stans



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Pakistan Mullah-Military Pact
Washington (UPI) Aug 07, 2007
The long alliance between Pakistan's powerful military and the country's religious-political groups seems to be running out of steam, as the army looks for new partners among moderates. The Pakistan Military Academy in the northwestern town of Abbottabad, which produces the officers who run the army, is a secular institution. Cadets at the PMA are not only taught war strategies and the use of weapons, they are also taught Western table manners and dress codes. All subjects are taught in English, and the cadets are encouraged to speak English with one another rather than their national language, Urdu.







  • Division Of The Caspian
  • Japan Looks To Turn Straw Into Biofuel Amid Price Crunch
  • Nanoparticle Technique Could Lead To Improved Semiconductors
  • New World Record For A Superconducting Magnet Set At National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

  • Indian PM's Communist Allies Reject Landmark US Nuke Deal
  • Russia To Commission Second Unit Of China Tianwan NPP In Sept
  • Europe Gives Ukraine 460 Million Euros To Build Chernobyl Sarcophagus
  • The Iran Nuke Industry Row

  • Invisible Gases Form Most Organic Haze In Both Urban And Rural Areas
  • BAE Systems Completes Major New Facility For Ionospheric Physics Research
  • NASA Satellite Captures First View Of Night-Shining Clouds
  • Main Component For World Latest Satellite To Measure Greenhouse Gases Delivered

  • Indian State Plants 10 Million Trees In One Day
  • East Africa Battles Deforestation With Butterfly Nets
  • Peru Launches Drive To Regrow Lost Forests And Jungles
  • Increase In Creeping Vines Signals Major Shift In Southern US Forests

  • Conventional Plowing Is Skinning Our Agricultural Fields
  • Chinese Prosperity Will Set Off Global Food Inflation
  • Risk Of Contamination Rises As Global Food System Expands
  • Rivers Recede But Millions Go Hungry In Flooded South Asia

  • Driving Changes For The Car Of The Future
  • Toyota To Delay Launch Of New Hybrids
  • US Should Consider Gas Tax Says Ford Chief
  • GM Sales In China To Hit One Million Vehicles

  • Boeing Flies Blended Wing Body Research Aircraft
  • Steering Aircraft Clear Of Choppy Air
  • EAA AirVenture 2007
  • Sensors May Monitor Aircraft For Defects Continuously

  • Could NASA Get To Pluto Faster? Space Expert Says Yes - By Thinking Nuclear
  • NASA plans to send new robot to Jupiter
  • Los Alamos Hopes To Lead New Era Of Nuclear Space Tranportion With Jovian Mission
  • Boeing Selects Leader for Nuclear Space Systems Program

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement