Posted on 08/08/2007 7:35:15 PM PDT by neverdem
MOSCOW, Aug. 8 — The Republic of Georgia presented what it called a mounting body of evidence on Wednesday that a Russian warplane had entered deep into its airspace and fired an air-to-ground missile. It said it was seeking a special session of the United Nations Security Council to address the matter.
No one was injured by the missile, which struck on Monday evening near Tsitelubani, a village about 30 miles from Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. The missile broke apart on impact, but did not explode. The Georgian military later detonated the missile.
The episode, apparently the second raid with sophisticated, Russian-made weapons on Georgian soil this year, inflamed tensions anew between the countries. Russia has denied any role, and suggested that Georgia attacked itself. It has also said it wants a comprehensive investigation of the matter.
But with Georgia marshaling its evidence and its foreign minister, Gela Bezhuashvili, rallying international support, the matter seemed to pose problems for Russian diplomacy in the turbulent Caucasus.
Estonia and Latvia condemned the episode as an act of aggression against Georgia, and Britain called for an investigation.
Mr. Bezhuashvili said he hoped to set up an international panel. “We have a body of evidence,” he said by telephone. “There is a common understanding of the seriousness of the situation, and we are initiating a process of calling for a special session of the U.N. Security Council.”
In March, a guided missile and a barrage of unguided rockets struck remote villages late at night in the Kodori Gorge, the only area of the Russian-backed separatist region of Abkhazia that is under Georgian control. More than 50 witnesses reported the sound of helicopters, which Georgia said flew in from a Russian base.
Russia denied involvement in that attack, although United Nations investigators issued a report...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Russia in the hot seat.
What would really pi$$ this filthy KGB agent (Putin) off is for every one of the USSR’s former colonies (except the muslim ones) to join the European Union and/or NATO.
Extremely interesting information, I think.
Yeah, right....good luck with that. It will go nowhere.
“The missile broke apart on impact, but did not explode... sophisticated, Russian-made weapons”
Internal inconsistency alert? How sophisticated could it be if it did not explode and broke up on impact?
‘Course age and poor maintenance could account for this I guess.
PING
Russia and China will veto any resolution.
Won’t happen. Belarus, Kazakhstan, and many of the other ‘Stans are solidly in Russia’s camp, and Ukraine is reverting towards the Russian camp.
Russia has bullied all the little countries - Estonia, Poland, and now Georgia. They are no threat to Russia. It is the Islamic countries with their burgeoning populations that Putin needs to watch closely, not the little European-oriented nations. Russia is intoxicated, dying young and not reproducing; they will be over run with Muslims, if they are not more attentive to their soft underbelly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.