Agence France-Presse,
TBILISI (AFP): Georgia said Wednesday that a report by an independent investigation team backed its claims that a plane from Russia had violated Georgian airspace and dropped a missile on its territory.
“The report confirms the accuracy of all the evidence that the Georgian side has collected,” said a statement from the foreign ministry, which published what is said was a copy of the report on its website.
The report into the 4.8-metre (15.7-foot) missile that landed on August 6 in a field about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Tbilisi was prepared by a team of eight military experts from Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and the United States.
The missile did not explode and caused no injuries, but Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's blaming of Moscow has raised the stakes in already tense relations between the pro-Western country and its Soviet-era master.
If the report on the ministry's website is genuine, it could boost Georgian efforts to rally international support behind its assertion that Russia deliberately fired on Georgia — a claim angrily denied by Moscow.
Georgia has called for the UN Security Council to take up the incident. Moscow has accused Georgia of fabricating the attack.
The Georgian foreign ministry said the report had found that an unidentified aircraft flew from Russia into Georgian airspace three times on August 6 and that radar data showed it released an object.
“The first pass into Georgian airspace lasted less than a minute,” said the copy of the report on the ministry's website.
“The final two passes into Georgian airspace lasted significantly longer and the unidentified aircraft went deeper into Georgian airspace,” it continued.
It went on to describe how several eyewitnesses had seen an aircraft in the area at the time of the impact and how some had even seen an object leaving the aircraft and a trail of smoke.
“Radar information of the last pass into Georgian airspace (around 14:36) indicates that an object separated from the unidentified aircraft,” the report said.
It confirmed that a Russian-designed Kh-58 anti-radiation missile impacted in a field close to the village of Tsitelubani.
“The warhead did not explode and the missile had burn marks on the rocket motor nuzzle,” the report said.
It did not identify the type of aircraft, but noted that Georgian air force planes are not equipped to carry Kh-58 missiles.
Investigators said they could not verify claims of a second missile being dropped or of the plane coming under anti-aircraft fire.
The report was based on witness accounts, radar information and a previous spot report prepared by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The foreign ministry said the OSCE chairman, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, had appointed a special representative who would arrive soon in Georgia to investigate the incident.
Earlier Wednesday, Georgia said Moscow had agreed to send its own experts to investigate the incident. The Russian foreign ministry said that four Russian experts would fly to Georgia on Thursday “to allow for an objective clarification of all the circumstances of the event.”
It was unclear if the Russians would participate with other international experts in an ongoing probe or conduct their own investigation.
Russia has been infuriated by Georgia's preparations to join the Western-led NATO military alliance, regarding them as an incursion into its historical sphere of influence.
