Translated material
"Wrong direction"
Russian missile may have fallen into Georgia by mistake
After some delay, Russia yesterday actively became involved in the investigation into the circumstances of the fall of a Raduga anti-radar guided missile on August 6 in the village of Tsitelubani, Gori region. A group of Russian experts arrived in Georgia. Press attache of the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi Zarina Gabieva told Vremya Novostei that it included five representatives from the Ministry of Defense and two from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to her, today Russian experts will visit Tsitelubani and leave Georgia on the same day. “Their arrival confirms Russia’s interest in an objective investigation,” Ms. Gabieva emphasized. “I hope that the work of Russian experts with their Georgian colleagues will put an end to this clearly dubious issue,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday.However, on the eve of the experts’ arrival, the Georgian Foreign Ministry published the data of an investigation conducted by a group of seven experts from Sweden and the United States. Lithuania and Latvia. The report refers to an "unidentified aircraft" that "invaded Georgian airspace three times from Russian territory near the city of Stepantsminda (formerly Kazbegi - Ed. )." In the first case, the plane was in Georgian airspace for less than a minute. The second and third are 11 minutes each. During the second “invasion,” radars detected the “separation” of an object from the aircraft. This is supposedly the same rocket that fell near Tsiteluban and did not explode. International experts identified the missile as a Russian-made anti-radar Kh-58, which corresponds to the AS-11 Kilter type according to NATO classification. Foreign experts were unable to name the type of aircraft - Georgia had previously insisted that it was a Su-24 front-line bomber. But the report notes that the Georgian Air Force does not have aircraft that can be armed with the X-58.
“All the facts point to the participation of the Russian Air Force in this incident,” Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili hastened to comment on the report of international experts. -- It is virtually confirmed that Russian Air Force aircraft were involved in the incident. The Georgian side will try to assure the Russian side of the veracity of the collected evidence and data.”
The Georgian government sees a connection between the missile crash and Russian military exercises at the Ashuluk training ground in the Astrakhan region. Tbilisi admits that the Russian pilots “mixed the direction.” Georgian media yesterday reprinted a message from the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It says: “The crews of eight Su-24 aircraft carried out bombing missions and were rated “good.” During the bombing, more than one hundred units of combat aviation weapons were expended.” Mr. Bezhuashvili did not fail to note that the delegation of Russian experts who arrived in Georgia included “that general” who said that Russia did not conduct any air force exercises during the period of interest to Tbilisi. We are talking about the chief of the main staff of the Russian Air Force, Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov. “Such statements, to put it mildly, turned out to be lies, since the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense has already posted information about these exercises, and it indicates which aircraft were involved and what weapons were used,” said the head of the Georgian Foreign Ministry.
Encouraged by the conclusion of international experts, who, according to Mr. Bezhuashvili, “virtually confirmed” Russia’s involvement in the air strike, Georgia, without waiting for the visit of the Russian delegation, again demanded that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon convene a meeting of the UN Security Council. Georgia's initial appeal on August 10 was rejected because the UN did not have enough materials at the time.
But yesterday, the head of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ivane Merabishvili, said at a government meeting that he has “serious conclusions and evidence on the fact of the bombing,” promising to publish them after “all invited experts make their assessments.” The minister previously explained that his department “can present about 600 different pieces of evidence confirming the conclusions of the Georgian side.” “More than 8 thousand missile fragments were discovered and included in the case at the bombing site, there are eyewitness accounts and radar readings, from which it is clear that the missile was accidentally launched from an airplane,” the minister claims.
“The international community has all the materials that confirm the plausibility of the conclusions and evidence of the Georgian side,” supported Interior Minister Gela Bezhuashvili yesterday. According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, the UN Secretary General has already expressed “serious concern about the incident and stated that what happened poses a threat not only to Georgia, but also to the regional security system.” In addition, Georgia insists on holding, within the framework of the next session of the UN General Assembly, a meeting of high-ranking representatives of Georgia and the countries of the Group of Friends of the UN Secretary General - Germany, Great Britain, the USA and France, but without Russia.
It is already known that if Georgia’s demands are met, Tbilisi will talk about “a series of interconnected attacks carried out against a sovereign state.” In other words, Georgia will “remember” Russia’s helicopter bombing of the Kodori Gorge of Abkhazia on March 11, for which Tbilisi also blames Moscow.
Experts from France, Great Britain and Estonia are yet to visit Georgia. At the same time, observers from the Russian and Ossetian battalions from the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict continue to study the circumstances of the incident. The commander of the Mixed Forces, Major General Marat Kulakhmetov, told Vremya Novostey about this. “The work will continue until everything is clear,” said the military leader. According to him, representatives of the OSCE mission in the conflict zone participate in monitoring only in cases where all battalions are allocated observers. Now they are gone, since Georgian observers have stopped participating in monitoring.