07 August 2009, 19:00
Nogovitsyn: last year Georgian Su-25 with Russian identification marks shot a column of refugees in South Ossetia
One of the most terrible provocations by the Georgian armed forces in the last-year conflict in South Ossetia was the fact when a Georgian fighter Su-25 with painted identification marks of Russian Air Force shot at the column of refugees driving from Tskhinval, and on the following day the same fighter shot at the column of Russian soldiers, stated colonel-general Anatoli Nogovitsin, deputy-chief of General Headquarters of the RF Armed Forces.
Anatoli Nogovitsin stated this at the press-conference on August 5, attended by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
According to Nogovitsin, there was an aircraft factory in Tbilisi with its own airdrome, where SU-25 fighters were repaired and manufactured. "Two facts have been established when Georgians put Russian Air Force identifications marks on Su-25: on August 8 when it bombed the automobile column of refugees from Tskhinval and claiming that it was Russians who attacked, and on August 9 - bombing the column of Russian troops moving along Zarsk bypass road. Later, this aircraft unit was destroyed by Russian Air Force", explained the general.
Georgian political analyst Paata Zakareishvili asserts that, in order to lay such serious charges, equally serious proof is needed. "Unfortunately, one can not rule out everything, and if this is proved, it is going to be really terrible", noted the political analyst, adding however, that, so far, it was only words and he was not prepared to believe it.
Author: Dmitry Florin Source: CK correspondent
