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Friday,
August 17,
2007, #157 (1424)
By Nino Mumladze An aircraft, coming from Russia, made repeated intrusions into Georgian airspace before finally dropping a Russian-designed missile on its third pass. That's the latest version of events for the August 6 missile incident, according to an August 14 report from the International Group of Experts (IGE). The report corroborates and adds details to the OSCE's August 9 spot report. "An unidentified aircraft flew from Russian airspace (close to the city of Stepansminda) into Georgian airspace and back again into Russian airspace three times. Every pass was conducted by a single aircraft," reads the report, which was written and signed off on by experts from Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and the US. The aircraft's first pass, the IGE concluded, lasted less than a minute. The subsequent two passes were significantly longer, over ten minutes each, as the intruding jet went deeper in Georgian airspace. The group said it was unable to identify aircraft's "type or origin." In the last pass, the report continues, the aircraft went furthest south where radar records show an object-presumably the missile-separating from the aircraft. The missile landed in a field near the village of Tsitelubani, close to the South Ossetian conflict zone and just 65 kilometers from Tbilisi. It did not detonate. There were homes within 30 meters. The report documents evidence running counter to a prevailing theory which suggested the missile was jettisoned, rather than fired. The group spoke with several eyewitnesses who claimed to see an aircraft above the impact site, some of which say they saw the missile leaving the plane with a trail of smoke behind it. "The warhead did not explode and the missile had burn marks on the rocket motor nozzle. The IGE identified the missile as a Russian designed Kh-58 (AS-II KILTER) anti-radiation missile," the group wrote, confirming a key finding of Georgia's initial August 7 investigation. Georgian experts had also named the missile as a Kh-58, further saying a Su-24-which is flown by Russia, but not Georgia-had launched it. The IGE report does more to corroborate the Georgian claims than the OSCE spot report, which failed to identify both the aircraft and missile type. The OSCE did, however, confirm that the aircraft came from the northeast. The IGE also backed-up prior statements from Georgian officials that the country's air force does not have any aircraft able to fire Kh-58 missiles, effectively blowing a hole in Russian accusations that Tbilisi staged the bombing. The international group was not able to verify reports of a second missile impact. Authorities in breakaway South Ossetia along with Russian peacekeepers claimed they saw a plane approach from Georgia's territory to the east and fire two missiles, one landing in South Ossetia. Despite the commander of the Russian peacekeepers announcing an immediate search for the impact site, no debris or other evidence of the missile has been reported found. Nor could the IGE verify another prominent claim, that a Strela shoulder-launched anti-aircraft weapon was fired at the aircraft from secessionist-held territory. South Ossetian forces have denied carrying such weapons in that area. While it didn't provide definitive answers about what happened that evening, the report was well-received-and distributed-by Tbilisi officials. "The report confirms the accuracy of all the evidence which the Georgian side has collected. In order to make the report truly impartial, the Georgian side did not take part in the work of the group. We were only cooperating with them and providing the group members with all the materials and information they were requesting," said Davit Dondua, a Foreign Ministry representative, on August 15. The IGE was set up in direct response to Georgia's call for an independent international investigation into the incident. While Tbilisi promised to keep out of the group's work, government officials eagerly received the team and called for more international experts to participate in the ongoing investigation. Dondua said that the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, would send a Special Representative to Georgia to study the situation. Moscow, which had vehemently denied any involvement in the incident, responded to the same call ten days after the missile fell. 25 Russian military experts, including Russian Air Force chief of staff Igor Khvorov-one of the first officials to reject Tbilisi's claims of Russian involvement-arrived in the Georgian capital yesterday. They were expected to provide Russian radar records for the investigation. "Georgia has spared no efforts to influence international public opinion, without Russia's participation," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying the same day, expressing his hope that Russian military experts would "put an end to this very questionable issue." Chair of the parliamentary Defense and Security Committee Givi Targamadze said there wasn't much left to investigate, given the IGE's "convincing conclusions." "The only thing Russians have to find out is which general or military officer should be held responsible for this incident," Targamadze said. With three reports together pointing the finger at Russia, Nika Rura, deputy chair of Targamadze's committee, said he was sure "Russia won't manage to get away with its actions." Rurua characterized the incident as a Russian bomb which did nothing other than cause international problems for Moscow. As much Tbilisi would like to see the Kremlin damaged over the incident, it's uncertain whether the international community is willing to take up the cause. The government has been persistently requesting the UN to get involved, with only minor success. Yesterday, the UN Security Council reportedly reviewed what is known about the incident, but no special session was announced. "It's important that despite big resistance from Russia, the issue remains on the agenda. This is a long process," said Irakli Alasania, the Georgian envoy to the United Nations. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was quoted in a Tbilisi press release as asserting UN interest in clearing up the matter, which he said was a threat to peace and security in the region, in as short a time as possible. Georgia was told
after its previous request for a UN Security Council emergency session
on the missile incident that the Council would wait for "the results
of any inquiry, in particular the one by the OSCE...before taking any
decision." Russia is one of the five veto-holding states in the
Council. |
A
Russian missile, international group confirms
