Russia refutes having violated Georgian air space

The federal frontier guard service of Russia has given the lie to Georgia's allegations about the violation of its air space by Russian planes, the more so as Russian planes do not fly in the Tskhinvali-Pasanauri direction. The frontier guard service believes that Tbilisi's two-day-long speculation about the alleged violation of its air space is a thought-out campaign by the definite Georgian circles to discredit Russia.

This Tuesday, Georgia's frontier guard department has again accused Russia of air transgression, specifically, of an accident when three or four aircraft burst into Georgian territory from Russian territory in the direction of Tskhinvali-Pasanauri and then shifted toward the Pankisi gorge.

The Tbilisi TV company "Rustavi-2" claims that part of the Pankisi gorge was bombed last night, causing no casualties. But as to the frontier guard department, which has dispatched a special group to the scene of the accident, it neither confirms nor denies the bombing.

Last Monday, the Russian side already disproved similar statements from the frontier guard department that an unidentified plane had come from the north in the early hours and wedged four kilometres into the depth of the country on the Chechen strip of the Georgian-Russian border.

The federal frontier guard service denies the very possibility of transgressing the border by Russian helicopters as the latter are not used at night.

The Russian Air Force press service has confirmed this statement, saying "helicopters of the united grouping of the federal forces were not used in the Kerigo gorge vicinity on the Chechen strip of the Russian-Georgian border. It is the site of a blocked group of Chechen fighters who penetrated Russian territory from Georgia.