Georgia-Russia missile dispute continues
Saturday, 18 Aug 2007 20:59
Georgia makes its opposition to Russian power in central Asia very clear
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Day-by-day updates on the situation in Georgia, as Russia continues to raise the diplomatic states over the future of its breakaway provinces. Full Story
The current dispute between Russian and Georgia over an unexploded missile is not in Russia's interest, the country's deputy foreign minister has insisted.
Grigory Karasin's comments come as foreign officials journey to Georgia to investigate the case of the missile, which landed close to a village in the Gori region of Georgia on August 6th.
The Tbilisi government has accused its counterpart in the Kremlin of authorising a violation of Georgian airspace with two fighter jets, suggesting the missile was targeting a nearby radar installation.
But Russian officials have vociferously denied these suggestions. Yesterday the Russian air force's chief of general staff, Igor Khvorov, said he was "absolutely confident that no plane transgressed the border".
And today, in comments on the Vesti news channel quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency, Mr Karasin insisted that Russia was "not interested" in destabilising its southern neighbour.
"Everything surrounding the August 6th incident benefits the enemies of normal and valid relations between Moscow and Tbilisi, those who do not want the process of peaceful settlement in South Ossetia and Abkhazia to move forward," he said, referring to ongoing diplomatic headaches between the two states.
Observers say the incident is escalating tensions between Georgia and Russia, however. Last September the arrest of four Russian 'spies' prompted a series of repressive measures introduced by Moscow and popularly supported by Russians.
Georgian businesses suffered closures and raids from police, 130 Georgians accused of being illegal immigrants were deported and postal and transport links were cut between the two states.