American Eye in the Georgian Sky

The US aerial surveillance above Georgia, in light of the recent tension between Washington and Moscow over the U.S.-led attack on Iraq, increases Russia’s protest regarding the US unilateral moves in a region that remains in “Russia’s security interests”.

Appearance of the US spy plane U-2 in the Georgian sky raises concerns in neighboring Russia. Moscow accused Washington in using “the Cold War tactics,” after the ‘American eye’ overflew Georgia, 20-30 kilometers away from the Russian airspace on March 22.

Flights of the US spy planes “provoke additional tension in a region that is sensitive from the viewpoint of Russia’s security interests,” reads the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official protest delivered to the US embassy in Moscow on March 22.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry two Russian interceptor jets were sent up on March 22 to track the U-2S spy plan and prevent the possible breach of the Russian border.

Georgian authorities, as well as the US embassy in Russia say they have no comments, regarding the report. “I can not confirm [the information]. No comments,” Nino Sturua, Spokesperson for the Georgian Defense Ministry told Civil Georgia on March 24.

According to the Russian side this is the third case of flight of the US spy plane over Georgia. “The March 22 flight by the American plane followed two earlier incidents on March 7 and February 27,” Russian Foreign Ministry statement reads.

“The US is known to explain that the task of such flights is to spot and identify international terrorists and their bases,” the Russian Ministry said in a statement. “However we have already conveyed to the American side our concern in connection with such intelligence activity near Russia’s border, which can hardly be of real use for the purpose of fighting international terrorism and is more reminiscent of a practice associated with ‘Cold War’ times,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.

Recall of the Cold War times throw us back to mid and late 1950s when the first modifications of the U-2 flew over the Soviet Union in the pursuit of photographic intelligence. U-2’s virtues kept it out of harm from the Soviet fighter jets and anti-aircraft missiles.

The US reconnaissance aircrafts gained worldwide attention in 1960 when a U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union, escalating Cold War tensions.

The U-2 spy plane still is the world’s highest-flying aircraft, capable of climbing past 70,000 feet and taking precise images on the land.

Some experts say that there is nothing surprising in appearance of the spy planes over Georgia, “as there are many things at the Russo-Georgian border that might be interesting for the US from the fight against terrorism point of view,” Dmitri Trenin, Co-Chair of the Foreign and Security Policy Program and the Deputy Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center told Civil Georgia.

“Bur Russia’s concerns regarding the overflights of the U-2 are absolutely reasonable, because this happens without notification of the Russian side. This kind of unilateral moves do not correspond the needs of joint fight against the terrorism,” Dmitri Trenin added.

Experts say that the Russo-Georgian tensions over the alleged presence of the Chechen militants in Georgia’s Pankisi gorge might increase as Georgia and the United States discuss the possibility of use of Georgian military airfields by the US warplanes.

“Georgia’s support towards the US-led war in Iraq will strengthen positions of the certain forces in Russia, which are against defusing tensions between Russia and Georgia,” Dmitri Trenin told Civil Georgia.

US ambassador in Georgia Richard Miles said on March 22 that such a possibility “is discussed by the experts.”

US embassy in Tbilisi confirmed that at the US Central Command, Tampa, Florida the representatives of the Georgian Defense Ministry and the US army discuss such a possibility at the moment.

Observers say that the decisions of Turkish Parliament not to allow for use of its airbases to the allied aircraft increases possibility of use of Georgian military airfields by the US Air Forces in war against Iraq, mainly for the logistics purposes.

By Giorgi Sepashvili, Civil Georgia

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