Russian jets violate Georgian airspace
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Monday, December 14
Georgia’s Foreign Ministry has released a statement, claiming that Russian planes have violated Georgiam airspace.
Moreover, the Ministry stressed that over the last several days, Russian jets violated Georgia’s airspace twice, dubbing the incidents as “obvious provocations.”
On this note, the Ministry stated that a Russian unmanned aircraft initially violated the Georgian airspace on December 9, at 18: 48 pm, when it flew over the villages of the eastern Gori region Koshka and Gugutiantkari, currently controlled by Georgia.
The second such case was observed on December 10, at 12: 48 pm, when a Russian Ěč-8 jet appeared over the village of Mereti, again in the Gori region, which is being controlled by Georgia’s border guards.
Officials in Tbilisi strongly condemned the violations, assessing them as one of the most blatant examples of Russia’s ignorance and lack of regard for international conventions.
The Georgian side also appealed to Russia to fulfill the ceasefire agreement signed with Georgia on August 12, 2008, at the end of the Russian-Georgian war.
Meanwhile, Russian news agencies spread the information and also citied Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in this regard, who strongly dismissed any such fact.
“Russian military aircraft have not made any flights over the territories near to the Georgian border in recent days,” he said.
He added that the allegation was definitely based on some unconfirmed information voiced by locals, and the Russian official called on the Georgian side to recheck the information appropriately for the next time and make statements based on radar data.
