MOSCOW (AFP) — Russia-backed separatists in South Ossetia on Saturday accused Georgian forces of firing on their soldiers in the first such reported incident since a brief war in the region in August.
A spokesman for Georgia's interior ministry confirmed shooting in the area near the Georgian village of Nikozi but said it was coming from drunken Russian soldiers at a border post and that they were firing into the air.
The spokesman also said that a Russian spy plane had been spotted flying briefly into Georgian airspace near the same village on Saturday in what was "obviously" a violation of an EU-brokered ceasefire agreement.
"The Georgian side has fired on security force posts of the Republic of South Ossetia," the separatist government said on its official website, quoting the de facto interior minister of the province, Mikhail Mindzayev.
No casualties were reported from the shooting, the statement said.
"South Ossetian security force posts near the Georgian village of Nikozi came under fire from machine guns and other firearms this morning. It happened as South Ossetian positions in the border zones were being set up," he said.
Georgia's interior ministry gave a very different account of the incident.
"Drunk Russian soldiers were firing into the air" at a security post near Nikozi, which is located on the Georgian side along the de facto border with South Ossetia, said Shota Utiashvili, a spokesman for the ministry.
Utiashvili also said: "A Russian drone flew over Nikozi this morning and then returned to Tskhinvali," the capital of South Ossetia. He said the spy plane was in Georgian airspace for up to 20 minutes.
This is the first time South Ossetian authorities have reported shooting from Georgian positions since a conflict in August between Russian forces and South Ossetian militias on one side and Georgian forces on the other.
Georgia has reported several shootings from the South Ossetian side.
Following the conflict with Georgia, Russia recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway province of Georgia, as independent states in a move that was roundly condemned by Western powers and Georgia.
Tensions remain high despite a ceasefire in place in the region as Georgian authorities have said Russia must pull all its forces out of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in order to comply with the ceasefire agreement.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from the rest of Georgia with Russian backing in the early 1990s in conflict that killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands of Georgians to flee their homes.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
