Russia deploys missiles in Ossetia

RUSSIA: Russia said Wednesday it had deployed high-precision air defence missiles in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, sending a defiant signal to Tbilisi and the West two years after a war with Georgia.

The S-300 missile system bolstered Moscow’s military presence in the disputed territory and drew an angry response from Georgia.

General Alexander Zelin, the commander of Russia’s air force, said that air defences of other types had been deployed in Georgia’s other Russian-backed rebel region, South Ossetia.

His comments, two years after Russia routed Georgian forces in a five-day war that strained Moscow’s ties with the United States and Europe, were reported by Russian news agencies.

“The task of these air defences is not only to cover the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia but also to avert violations of their state borders in the air and destroy any vehicle illegally penetrating their air space, whatever the goal of its mission,” Zelin said. Zelin said the air defence systems would also protect Russian bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

“At the same time, the task of air defence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia will be also implemented by frontline and army aviation carrying out combat duties there,” Zelin said.

Georgia reacted promptly, accusing Moscow of “strengthening its image and role as an occupying country.”

“It shows ... not only that Russia does not intend to withdraw its troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia but that it is actually strengthening its military control over these territories,” Eka Tkeshelashvili, Georgia’s National Security Council secretary, told Reuters.

The US State Department, however, said that Russian press reports had indicated for some time that Moscow maintained S-300 missiles in Abkhazia.

“This is the first time any Russian official has indicated that this is the case. We have said many times that Russia must abide by its 2008 ceasefire commitments, and this is another instance in which the Russians have failed to adhere to those commitments,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in an email message.

Moscow, Reuters