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Russian general: Georgia made up raid
2007-08-09
Russia's military chief on Thursday accused Georgia of fabricating a report of a Russian missile attack to stoke tensions between Moscow and its small pro-Western neighbor. The U.N. Security Council president, meanwhile, said the body needs more information before holding an emergency meeting on the dispute, as requested by Georgia. The United States, however, said it supported Georgia's request. Georgia said radar data proved Russian jets violated its airspace Monday and fired a missile aimed at a Georgian radar. The missile, which did not explode, landed close to a village in the northwestern Gori region near Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, which is patrolled by Russian peacekeepers. Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the chief of Russia's military General Staff, said Georgia concocted the incident to foment tensions. "I'm convinced that it was a provocation by Georgia, ... a provocation against the Russian peacekeepers and Russia as a whole," Baluyevsky said in televised comments during a visit to China. In Tbilisi, Levan Nikoleishvili, Georgia's first deputy defense minister, told The Associated Press that Baluyevsky's statement was "sheer nonsense." Tbilisi has accused Moscow of trying to destabilize the country and of backing separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two regions that broke away from Georgia during wars in the 1990s. President Mikhail Saakashvili, whose efforts to integrate into the West and join NATO have irked Moscow, has vowed to return the regions to central government control. Georgia's Foreign Ministry said records from radars compatible with NATO standards showed that a Russian Su-24 jet had flown into Georgia and launched a missile. Investigators identified the weapon as a Russian-made Raduga Kh-58 missile, designed to hit radars, the ministry said. The missile, code-named AS-11 by NATO, carried a 300-pound warhead. U.N. Security Council members considered Georgia's request for an emergency meeting but "felt that there was a lack of adequate, accurate information," said Pascal Gayama, the council's president and deputy ambassador of the Republic of Congo. Gayama said the council was "looking forward" to hearing the results of a ground investigation by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The OSCE had said its mission in Georgia had confirmed that Georgian airspace was violated, but could not say how many and what kind of aircraft were involved. The mission also said it could not identify the missile. U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad said Washington supports Georgia's request for a Security Council meeting. "We condemn any attack on Georgia," he said. "We've asked the president of the council to consult with colleagues how to proceed on this issue." The State Department condemned what it described as a "rocket attack" without naming a responsible party, and praised Georgia's "restraint in the face of this air attack." Lt. Gen. Igor Khvorov, chief of staff for the Russian air force staff, reaffirmed Thursday that the Russian aircraft had not conducted the raid. "It's a political invention," he said at a news conference. Georgian officials said the nation has no Su-24 jets or missiles of that type. The Russian missile missed its target because the Georgian military switched off the radar after it had detected the intrusion and the missile's launch, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Zurab Pochkua said Thursday on Rustavi-2 television. Late Thursday, Rustavi-2 broadcast audio of what it said was a conversation between a Georgian and a Russian civilian air traffic controller at around the time the aircraft was spotted in Georgian airspace. The Georgian controller can be heard asking the Russian whether his radar had picked up the object. The Russian responds that his radar can only monitor civilian aircraft but, at the Georgian's request, calls his superiors to ask about the object. "Our bosses tell me that there is no (object) there, either according to any flight plan or even according to reality for that matter," the Russian can be heard saying. "OK. Maybe it is a UFO then," the Georgian controller responds. Relations between Russia and Georgia have been strained since Saakashvili was elected in early 2004 and made clear his intentions to move the former Soviet republic closer to the West. Georgia has accused Russia of backing separatists; Moscow, in turn, has accused Tbilisi of fomenting tensions in the rebel provinces. Georgia has repeatedly accused Russia of violating its airspace -- claims Russia denied. _____ Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations.
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