(Tbilisi, July 16, 2003, Civil Georgia) – Georgian ambassador in Russia Zurab Abashidze said on July 15 that two-hour flight of the NATO Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance plane in Georgia is part of cooperation between Georgia and “its western partners in defense and security issues.”
“Georgia, as a member of the NATO Partnership for Peace program has applied for membership to NATO program, which considers air surveillance data exchange. This is about protecting our airspace, so we know what is happening on our territory,” Zurab Abashidze said in the interview to the Russian Echo Moskvy radio station.
AWACS plane arrived in Tbilisi on July 8 with the delegation of the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Programme Management Organization, led by Major General Johann Dora.
On July 9 the NATO delegation made a test flight with an AWACS radar plane over the Georgian capital for an hour.
Georgia accuses Russia for frequent violation of Georgian airspaces. Last summer Georgian authorities blamed Russia for bombing Georgian territory, adjacent to the Russian-Georgian border, killing one civilian.
In response to the flight of the AWACS plane in Georgian Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on July 10 saying the flight concerns “Russia’s national security”, adding that AWACS technology could provide surveillance over a large portion of Russian territory without ever entering the country.
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