Posted on 08/22/2002 11:50:30 PM PDT by HAL9000
Attack Russian planes on the throats of Pankissi in Georgia (frontier guards)
Friday August 23, 2002 - 6h36 GMT
TBILISSI, August 23 (AFP) - Russian fighters attacked in three places in the area géorgienne of the throats of Pankissi, indicated Friday the service of the frontier guards géorgiens by quoting testimonys of inhabitants.
The apparatuses, of which the exact number was not specified, penetrated in the airspace of the republic of Georgia towards 04H15 GMT and tackled the zone of Kakhétinsk in the throats of Pankissi, according to the service of the frontier guards.
Russia affirms that the throats of Pankissi, close to the border tchetchene, shelter a few hundreds of rebels tchetchenes, and that Georgia tolerates their activities and lets them cross the border in the two directions.
Persons in charge géorgiens were dispatched on the spot to check information of the inhabitants of Kakhétinsk.
Georgia showed Russia to have violated its airspace with five recoveries during last weeks.
Moscow always contradicted these charges but at least an attack was confirmed by observers of the Organization for safety and the co-operation in Europe (SOEC).
Incompetent to put a term at the operations of the freedom fighters in Tchétchénie, Russia recently multiplied his criticisms with regard to Georgia, which it shows to be used as a basis back to the rebels.
Conflicting reports of bombing in Pankisi Gorge
TBILISI/MOSCOW. Aug 23 (Interfax) - A source in the administration of Akhmeta district in Georgia has told Interfax that three people were killed and several wounded on Friday morning in Russian air attacks on the Pankisi Gorge. The Russian Defense Ministry denies the reports.
Chief of the Kakhetia territorial police Zurab Tushuri told Interfax that reports of casualties among residents of the village of Bukhrevi in Pankisi district are being double-checked.
"There is panic in the gorge," he said.
Secretary of the Georgian National Security Council Tedo Japaridze told reporters in Tbilisi that on Friday morning, Russian aviation intensively bombed Georgian territory in Akhmeta and Tianeti districts - the northern part of the Pankisi Gorge and mountains in Tianeti district.
"The bombing involved several war planes and lasted for 40 minutes," Japaridze said.
"Today's incident is a provocation and an official protest will be made," he said.
A spokesman for the Georgian Border Department told Interfax that at 5:15 a.m. local time on Friday, "at least four Russian aircraft flew at least 50 kilometers inside Georgian air space and bombed Ilto and Iori Gorges."
The Russian Defense Ministry denies reports of Russian warplanes bombing Georgia.
"The Russian Air Force did not fly any missions in the area of the Russian-Georgian border on Friday," chief of the force's press service Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky told Interfax.
"Russian warplanes did not violate the air border with Georgia," he said. "Once again we express our readiness to submit data from monitoring equipment to the Georgian side indicating that there was no violation of their air space from the Russian side," he said.
"Neither did any aircraft from the Georgian side fly to Russian territory," he added.
"For a year, the Georgian side has been coming out with numerous claims that Russian aircraft have violated its air space and delivered strikes on the Pankisi Gorge. However, no documented proof of these statements has been produced to us," Drobyshevsky said.
VRN
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