S.Ossetia denies Link to Gori Blast

In a phone interview with Rustavi 2 television Special Affairs Minister of breakaway South Ossetia denied on July 25 the unrecognized republic?s involvement in organizing deadly car bomb explosion in Gori in February.

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on July 25 that the Georgian law enforcers arrested three suspects in South Ossetian conflict zone. In his statement Merabishvili did not say that authorities in breakaway region were behind the February attack in Gori, instead he accused Russian military intelligence service of masterminding car bomb explosion. But the names of suspects, announced by Merabishvili indicate that they are ethnic Ossetians.

The Special Affairs Minister of breakaway South Ossetia described these statements by the Georgian Interior Minister as ?a lie.?

No official statement by the Russian authorities was followed Merabishvili?s allegations. But the Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted unnamed source, described by the agency as Russian Defense Ministry?s top-level official as saying: ?Statement by Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili about involvement of the intelligence administration of the Russian General Staff in organizing sabotages on the Georgian territory is not true.?

?This is a clear provocation, which reflects the Georgian authorities? unfriendly stance towards Moscow. Persons, named by Merabishvili, have never served in the Russian army,? the Russian Defense Ministry?s unnamed official added.

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