Russian launches air strike
Russia 'launches airstrike' against Georgia
By Richard Holt
Last Updated: 1:42am BST 08/08/2007


Russia has been accused of launching an airstrike in an "act of aggression" against neighbouring Georgia.

Farmers with what is claimed to be a motor from the missile

Russia, which has a long history of tense relations with the former Soviet state, has denied the claim.

Georgian officials said that two Russian jet fighters violated its airspace and fired a missile which did not explode.

A Georgian government spokesman said that the intrusion took place on Monday night when the aircraft entered Georgia's airspace over the northeastern Gori region and fired a missile which fell near the village of Tsitelubani, around 40 miles west of the capital, Tbilisi.

At the scene, locals watched as bomb disposal experts worked using a remote-controlled vehicle and an excavator to safely remove what appeared to be the remains of a missile from a five-metre deep crater.

The spokesman said that he had personally inspected the missile which landed just metres from a house on the outskirts of the village.

Neighbouring Georgia and Russia have a history of tense relations

He said that experts were considering what to do with the weapon.

Vano Merabishvili, the Georgian interior minister, said: "Our radars show that these jets flew from Russia and then flew back in the same direction that they had come from.

"I assess this fact as an act of aggression carried out by planes flown from the territory of another state."

Georgian officials have frequently claimed that Russian military aircraft has violated its airspace. Russia has always denied the accusations.

Russian officials have said in the past that Georgia itself stages "provocations" to stir up conflict with Moscow and distract attention from its government's failings.

Eduard Kokoity, leader of Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia - a Moscow-backed region which is a few miles from Tsitelubani - said Georgia fired the missile itself to discredit Russia.

"This is a well-planned provocation," he was quoted as saying by local media.

Moscow is reportedly angry about Georgia's plans to join Nato, while Tbilisi accuses Russia of backing separatists in breakaway provinces and trying to destabilise Georgia.