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shanghaiceltic
Board Royalty
Joined: Sep 20, 2005
Posts: 7588
Location: Perth WA
Status: Offline
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 Posted:
Aug 08, 2007 - 08:15 AM |
 
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| Post subject: Russia again throwing it's weight around |
Following the switching off of gas to the Ukraine (at the time of a G8 meeting) and Belarus, the cyber attacks on the Baltic states, the alleged murder of a Russian living in the UK, Russia is now accused of firing missiles.
Strange behavior for a G8 member and little response from the G8.
Georgia: Russia fired missile at village
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Last Updated: 7:30pm BST 07/08/2007
Georgia has appealed for urgent international support against Kremlin "aggression" after Russian fighter jets reportedly attacked a village close to the capital Tbilisi.
The missile strike, responsibility for which was quickly denied by Moscow, dramatically worsened already tense relations between the ex-Soviet neighbours.
Farmers examine what is claimed to be a motor from the missile
Farmers with what is claimed to be a motor from the missile
The Georgian foreign ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador to Tbilisi and handed him a formal prοtest note that condemned the attack as "undisguised aggression and a gross violation of the country’s sovereignty."
Vano Merabishvili, Georgia’s interior minister, told The Daily Telegraph that two Sukhoi attack aircraft entered Georgian airspace from Russia at 7.30 pm on Monday night and fired at least one air-to-surface missile at the village of Tsitelubani, 40 miles west of Tbilisi.
The missile left a 16-foot crater in a field but failed to detonate. Sappers later defused the missile, fragments of which bore Cyrillic markings.
"We now have incontrovertible evidence that these aircraft travelled more than 80 km into Georgian airspace and fired a 1,000-kg precision guided, Russian-made missile," said Georgia’s foreign minister, Gela Bezhuashvili. The Georgian government later led Western diplomats on a tour of the site.
Officials also handed over evidence in the form of photographs and radar data to experts at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Georgia has complained of repeated violations of its airspace and claimed in March that Russian helicopter gunships opened fire on the country’s remote Kodori Gorge, close to the Moscow-backed breakaway region of Abkhazia.
A United Nations investigation ruled, however, that there was insufficient evidence to blame Russia conclusively. With the latest attack considered a greater provocation because of its proximity to the capital, Georgia is keen to ensure that there are no such doubts this time.
"We believe the muted international response after the Kodori incident acted as a green light for Russian adventurism," Mr Bezhuashvili said. "We now appeal to the international community to stand up for its principles and condemn this aggressive behaviour against us."
Russia’s relations with several westward leaning countries once in Moscow’s sphere of influence have deteriorated in recent years but few spats have been as indecorous as the fallout with once favoured Georgia.
Mikhail Saakashvili, the westernizing president swept to power in the Rose Revolution of 2003, has irked Vladimir Putin by seeking to join Nato and the EU. The Kremlin took its revenge by banning exports of wine and mineral water, pivotal to Georgia’s economy.
Relations worsened even further last September after Georgia expelled four Russian officers accused of espionage. Moscow retaliated by reducing diplomatic ties, severing transport, trade and communication links and expelling thousands of Georgians living in Russia after often violent round-ups by the police.
Even so, some analysts questioned what Russia would have to gain from a missile attack on a village with no strategic value.
Some suggested that Kremlin hardliners hoping to provoke a military crisis in order to provide an excuse to change the constitution and allow Mr Putin to serve a third term after elections next March.
Others suggested that the attack could have been carried out by renegade Russian military units opposed to peace talks between South Ossetia, another Moscow backed separatist region close to the scene of the strike, and the Georgian government.
Senior Russian officers are thought to have benefited financially from the region’s lawlessness.
But Mr Merabishvili, the Georgian interior minister, said he believed the Russian jets were attempting to strike a nearby military tracking radar and missed.
"This is a very dangerous development," he said. "Moscow is sending out a very clear signal to any eastern European country that opposes it. They are saying we can do this to you." |
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I have parrallel bars at home, one for gin and one for whiskey |
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hc
Post Roaster
Joined: Apr 04, 2007
Posts: 4545
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| Posted:
Aug 08, 2007 - 08:34 AM |
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