Unofficial translation from Russian

The analysis and generalization of the information coming in to the Russian Foreign Ministry help to create an objective picture of the events connected with firing on the Georgian military helicopter on September 3.

According to the data of the monitoring carried out by a group of military observers from Russia, North Ossetia, Georgia and the OSCE , a Mi-8 helicopter with the identification signs of the Georgian air force went over Abano village towards Tsnelisi village, before which it turned to Koda village and then flew along the route: Kaleti village - Balta village - Znauri village.

At 15:37 personnel of the shift on duty at the Tsnelisi observation post heard small arms fire. Several minutes later the helicopter flew towards Kobi village, made a turn as it climbed higher and then proceeded along the Tkotsa-Plevi route, after which it got beyond the zone of responsibility of the Mixed Peacekeeping Force in the southeastern sector. The entire flight occurred in the airspace of the conflict zone.

Thus, an immutable fact of violation by a Georgian military helicopter of the conflict zone airspace has been established by the results of monitoring by the military observers with the participation of the Georgian and OSCE representatives. We do not know for sure whether Defense Minister Okruashvili was indeed on board this flying craft, and if so, the legitimate question arises why the Georgian minister needed to make a flight around this territory in violation of its status. It is relevant to recall here that according to a decision of the 24th session of the MCC of July 30, 2002, any unauthorized flights over the MPKF's zone of responsibility are to be regarded as dangerous actions aimed at thwarting the peace process.

It should be noted that this is a far from the first instance when the Georgian side has carried out such dangerous actions. According to monitoring data, Georgian air force helicopters violated the airspace of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone 12 times in July-August of the current year alone.

The Russian MFA designates such actions by the Georgian authorities as being provocative. They are obviously aimed at undermining the peace process in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict and show that Tbilisi is beginning to openly prepare the ground for implementing alternative problem resolution schemes.

September 4, 2006