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10Sep08
US accused of involvement in Caucasus conflict
Having assisted Georgia in transporting its troops from Iraq, the United States set a precedent of participating in a military conflict on Georgia’s side, Lieutenant General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Russia’s military forces, told a news briefing for the ambassadors and military attaches from more than 100 countries on Tuesday.
On August 8, he said, Georgia had decided to recall its troops from Iraq and asked the US to transport them to Georgia.
As Russian troops advanced into South Ossetia, Georgian authorities began to panic, according to Nogovitsyn. “The republic’s political and military leaders lost control, and President Mikhail Saakashvili even asked the US to provide him with an aircraft so that he could leave Georgia,” he noted. Panic was so strong that the hastily retreating 50 Georgian tanks were mistaken for Russian armored machines.
Nogovitsyn also spoke of Israel’s role as Georgia’s military partner before the South Ossetia crisis. He added that the General Staff had no evidence that Israel was continuing its military-technological cooperation with Georgia “At this point there is no information at our disposal as to whether this cooperation is continuing, or at what stage it is,” he stated.
He confirmed that Israel had supplied eight unmanned aerial vehicles to Georgia, including four Hermes 450s. "These drones were flying air reconnaissance missions over South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” Nogovitsyn said. He added that Israeli military experts had trained Georgian army personnel to operate unmanned aircraft in 2007. Israel also supplied 100 sets of mine clearing charges to Georgia for driving corridors in anti-tank minefields, and another fifty sets of charges for propelling passages in anti-personnel minefields, as well as 500 sets of camouflage nets.
At his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev condemned Washington’s policy in Caucasus. He accused the US or orchestrating Georgia’s aggression against South Ossetia.
Medvedev reiterated Russia’s new foreign policy principles, including the unacceptability of a one-polar system, dominance of any countries on the international arena, or attempts to solve all problems at the expense of the international community. “Even the largest and most respected nations such as the US cannot change the rules of the game for the international community. There are special institutions for that purpose, such as the United Nations and regional organizations, which should make their contributions,” the Russian President concluded.
[Source: RosBusinessConsulting, Moscow, 10Sep08]
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