NewsDude
09-17-2008, 04:00 PM
Intercepted mobile phone calls show that Russian tanks and troops invaded before Georgia unleashed its offensive against South Ossetia, the Georgian government said Tuesday, pressing its claim that Russia was the aggressor in the war last month.
The recordings released Tuesday by the Georgian government aimed to turn the tables against Moscow in the battle for the moral high ground after a five-day war that killed hundreds of people and deepened the rift between Russia and the West.
Russia has always claimed that Georgia was the aggressor, saying it only responded militarily to defend Russian citizens and peacekeepers in South Ossetia.
Georgia said the recordings are phone calls between two South Ossetian border guards which prove that Russian tanks and troops entered South Ossetia many hours before the Georgian offensive began late Aug. 7.
The recordings were first released to the New York Times, which reported their contents Tuesday. A Georgian Interior Ministry official, Shota Utiashvili, played two of the recordings for The Associated Press and provided printed English translations from the original Ossetian.
Utiashvili said the alleged intercepts show "that Russian heavy armor entered Georgia about 20 hours before the war started."
"It again proves our case that Georgia's move was self-defense, rather than an unprovoked attack," he said.
The recordings are purportedly intercepts of two exchanges between a South Ossetian border guard at the southern entrance to the Roki tunnel, which leads from the separatist Georgian province to Russia, with another guard at the headquarters in the South Ossetian capital.
The northern tunnel entrance is in Russia.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko dismissed the Georgian claim as "not serious." He said any major troop movements would have been easily tracked by satellites used by NATO nations.
NATO's chief and ambassadors from all 26 allies were in Georgia on Tuesday, showing support for the pro-Western nation and demanding...
More... (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61894)
The recordings released Tuesday by the Georgian government aimed to turn the tables against Moscow in the battle for the moral high ground after a five-day war that killed hundreds of people and deepened the rift between Russia and the West.
Russia has always claimed that Georgia was the aggressor, saying it only responded militarily to defend Russian citizens and peacekeepers in South Ossetia.
Georgia said the recordings are phone calls between two South Ossetian border guards which prove that Russian tanks and troops entered South Ossetia many hours before the Georgian offensive began late Aug. 7.
The recordings were first released to the New York Times, which reported their contents Tuesday. A Georgian Interior Ministry official, Shota Utiashvili, played two of the recordings for The Associated Press and provided printed English translations from the original Ossetian.
Utiashvili said the alleged intercepts show "that Russian heavy armor entered Georgia about 20 hours before the war started."
"It again proves our case that Georgia's move was self-defense, rather than an unprovoked attack," he said.
The recordings are purportedly intercepts of two exchanges between a South Ossetian border guard at the southern entrance to the Roki tunnel, which leads from the separatist Georgian province to Russia, with another guard at the headquarters in the South Ossetian capital.
The northern tunnel entrance is in Russia.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko dismissed the Georgian claim as "not serious." He said any major troop movements would have been easily tracked by satellites used by NATO nations.
NATO's chief and ambassadors from all 26 allies were in Georgia on Tuesday, showing support for the pro-Western nation and demanding...
More... (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=61894)