Russia Accuses Georgia of Harboring Terrorists, Warns of Pre-Emptive Strikes
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov accused Georgia, while addressing the Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 12, that ?terrorist? are entering Chechnya from Georgia. He also said that Russia reserves the right to strike pre-emptively against the terrorists anywhere, reported Reuters.
“We have killed so many foreigners in Chechnya carrying passports with a Georgian tourist visa in their pockets?You can’t deny they are penetrating our territory through the territory of Georgia, that’s a fact,” Reuters quoted Ivanov as saying.
“If? we know that some place in the world there are terrorists in hiding, plotting to carry out a terrorist act on the Russian territory, should we wait and let them go and then try to apprehend them? Or hit them straight away? I think the answer is clear,” he added.
In a response, Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili, who also participated in the Munich Security Conference, said, ?I’m a bit worried by the accusations that terrorists were again crossing the border and the fact that you might use preventive strikes,” Reuters reported.
Recently, the Russian officials have renewed allegations that Chechen rebels are hiding in Georgia?s north-eastern mountainous Pankisi gorge, near the Russian border. But Georgia denies these accusations and offers international monitoring of the gorge.
