Eye-witnesses of South Ossetia say the helicopter was flying at the altitude of 100 meters above the possition of South Ossetia's Air Defense, near the village of Isakkau, shooting at it.
Photo: Sergey Semyenov
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South Ossetia Fires on Georgian Helicopter
On Sunday, the Air Defense of South Ossetia fired on the Mi-8 combat helicopter of Georgia, which violated the air of this unrecognized republic. Suffering from minor damages, the helicopter (with Georgian Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili on board) rushed back to the military base in Georgia. South Ossetia blamed the standoff on Georgia, while the latter vowed to take actions against the unrecognized republic. The analysts forecast marked aggravation of the situation in the region.
South Ossetia fired on Georgian helicopter at around 3:40 p.m., MSK. By that time, South Ossetia claims, the helicopter had been in the air of this unrecognized republic for around 30 minutes. “The whole half an hour that the helicopter was in our air, services of the Defense Ministry of South Ossetia were attempting to persuade the crew to put down or go back to Georgia. But they didn’t respond, staging intentional provocation,” said Irina Gagloyeva, who chiefs the information committee of South Ossetia.
The eye-witnesses of South Ossetia say the helicopter was flying at the altitude of 100 meters above the Air Defense facilities of South Ossetia, near the village of Isakkau, shooting at them.
Tbilisi’s interpretation was different. “The fire was brought down without warning,” said Paat Bedianishvili, who commands the battalion of joint peacekeeping forces in the region.
Georgian Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili was on board of that battle-tested helicopter. The outraged minister called the incident another crime of the bandit gangs in South Ossetia and promised to wipe them out.
Tskhinvali (the capital of South Ossetia) shares the combat move. “We are 70,000, and we are ready to stand for our motherland. But we hope the situation could be settled peacefully,“ Gagloyeva specified.
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All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 04, 2006
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