By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 8, 2007; 8:39 PM
TBILISI, Georgia -- Georgia said Wednesday that radar data proves Russian jets violated its airspace and fired a missile, and it urged the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the "act of aggression."
Moscow suggested that Tbilisi was overreacting, as long-simmering tensions between the two neighbors spiked again.
The U.S. State Department condemned what it called the "attack against Georgia." Spokesman Sean McCormack praised "Georgia's continuing restraint" and called for an urgent clarification of the facts.
Tbilisi has accused Moscow of trying to destabilize the country and of backing separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two regions that broke away from Georgia during wars in the 1990s. President Mikhail Saakashvili, whose efforts to join the European Union and NATO have irked Moscow, has vowed to return the regions to central government control.
Georgia's Foreign Ministry said records from radars compatible with NATO standards showed that a Russian Su-24 jet had flown into Georgian airspace and launched a missile. The missile, which did not explode, landed near a house in the Gori region next to South Ossetia.
Georgia demanded that the U.N. Security Council take action. Charge d'Affaires Irakli Chikovani called the incident a violation of the U.N. Charter and met with the Security Council president to seek an emergency meeting. The council president, Republic of Congo's deputy ambassador, Pascal Gayama, was expected to consult with other members Thursday.
"It should be stressed that this act of aggression may have been aimed at hindering the recent positive dynamics in democratization and conflict resolution currently under way in Georgia," Chikovani said.
"The common sense is that the United Nations Security Council has to tackle this matter which has threatened peace and security in my country, and we call on the United Nations to conduct its own investigation," he added.
Investigators identified the weapon as a Russian-made Raduga Kh-58 missile, designed to hit radars, the Foreign Ministry said. The missile, code-named AS-11 by NATO, carried a warhead of more than 300 pounds.
Defense Ministry spokesman Georgy Tatishvili said the Russian jet was probably aiming at a Georgian radar station.
The Foreign Ministry called the incident "undisguised aggression and a gross violation of sovereignty of the country." It also said the nation has no Su-24 jets or missiles of that type.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that its mission in Georgia had confirmed that Georgian airspace was violated, but could not say how many and what kind of aircraft were involved. The mission also said it could not identify the missile.
Russia's air force has denied that its planes crossed into Georgia's airspace.
Gen. Marat Kulakhmetov, commander of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, said an unidentified aircraft dropped the missile after flying over South Ossetia and coming under fire from the ground. Kulakhmetov suggested the plane came from Georgia.
Officials of the separatist government in South Ossetia, which has received backing from Moscow, accused Georgia of dropping the missile.
Russia's Foreign Ministry suggested that Georgia had concocted the incident.
Moscow views the event as an "attempt to derail positive trends in Russian-Georgian relations and exacerbate the situation with the settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict." It said Moscow would insist on a swift investigation.
The U.S. statement by McCormack, which carefully avoided naming a responsible party, urged Russia and Georgia to settle differences over South Ossetia and called for increased OSCE monitoring of the region.
"The proximity of this attack to Georgia's separatist South Ossetia region and the violation of Georgia's airspace over the zone of conflict underscore the pressing need for progress toward peaceful resolution of the South Ossetia conflict," McCormack said.
Sergei Mironov, the speaker of the upper house of Russia's Parliament, accused Tbilisi of fanning "anti-Russian hysteria" to deflect attention from domestic problems, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Relations between Russia and Georgia have been strained since Saakashvili was elected president in 2004 and made clear his intentions to move the former Soviet republic closer to the West.
Georgia has accused Russia of backing separatists; Moscow, in turn, has accused Tbilisi of fomenting tensions in the rebel provinces. Georgia has repeatedly accused Russia of violating its airspace _ claims Russia has invariably denied.
Earlier this year, Georgia said Russian helicopters fired on its territory in the Kodori Gorge, a volatile area on the fringe of Abkhazia. The two nations exchanged accusations at the time, but a subsequent U.N. report said it was not clear who had fired at Georgian territory.
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Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this story.