Translated material
Georgian window to Russia
Americans are taking a closer look at the radar in Adjara
Elements of the American missile defense system may be deployed in Adjara. This sensation was reported yesterday by the Georgian media, which reported on the trip of a group of American experts in the field of air navigation to the autonomous republic. According to the Mze television company, it was this group of US experts who participated last week in a joint visit with Russian specialists to the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan. Official Tbilisi has so far refrained from commenting.The visit of American experts is taking place through the civilian line of Gruzaeronavigatsiya. “The specialists from the United States did not arrive under our agency; we do not have any official information about plans to deploy a missile defense system in Georgia,” a representative of the Georgian Ministry of Defense told Vremya Novostei. VN's sources in the Committee on Defense and National Security of the Georgian Parliament refrain from commenting. The head of "Gruzaeronavigatsiya" Georgiy Karbelashvili, in an interview with Georgian journalists, mysteriously said that "such visits do not happen by chance." He noted that the Americans have been working in Adjara for about a week. The American guests limit themselves to statements that they are ready to do a lot for the development of Georgian air navigation.
American experts are studying the operation of a modern airspace control radar installed by Georgia on the country's Black Sea coast in accordance with the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The deployment of such a radar between Batumi and Poti, approximately 400 km west of Tbilisi, was announced in August. The station's range is 450 km, the cost of the project is $1 million. The radar was purchased in France, where Georgian specialists were trained. A similar radar will appear in 2008 in Eastern Georgia.
Georgia pays increased attention to control over the country's airspace after the incident with a rocket crash on August 6 near the village of Tsitelubani, Gori region. Tbilisi accused the Russian Air Force of violating the country's airspace and bombing. Moscow rejected these claims. According to the Georgian newspaper Rezonansi, since 1999, Russian military aircraft have violated Georgian airspace more than thirty times.
Previously, Georgia officially stated that it had not received any American requests regarding the deployment of missile defense facilities. Russia opposes the deployment of US missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe and proposes to share the use of radar stations in Azerbaijan, but the Americans are not ready to make such an exchange. Just these days, President Mikheil Saakashvili is in the United States. After today's speech at the General Assembly session, he will hold meetings in Washington, at which US plans to deploy missile defense facilities in Georgia may become more concrete.
First Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky yesterday called plans to deploy elements of the American missile defense system in Georgia unfounded, since the Gabala radar station is located nearby, which Russia offers the Americans to use. He also noted that Moscow is unlikely to support such US plans, especially if they are implemented in combination with the deployment of missile defense elements in Eastern Europe: “Then these will not be plans for missile defense, but plans to encircle Russia.” Former commander of the Missile Defense Corps, Lieutenant General Nikolai Rodionov, noted that the missile defense system station in Adjara “will certainly pose a threat to the security of our country, since it can be used to monitor the launches of our strategic missiles based on the European territory of the country.” According to him, “it cannot be ruled out that any antennas could be installed next to the radar - looking both at Iran and to the north, that is, at Russian territory.”
“It is quite possible that elements of the missile defense system will be deployed in Georgia,” Shalva Pichkhadze, chairman of the board of the Georgia to NATO organization, told VN. - If Russians are allowed in Azerbaijan, why ban Americans in Georgia? Such placement will accelerate Georgia's movement into the North Atlantic Alliance. As for a possible negative reaction from Iran, I believe that Georgian leaders see the deployment of missile defense on the territory of our country as more pleasant than threatening.”