Moscow Slams Tbilisi for S.Ossetia Incident

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned Tbilisi on February 1 to refrain from taking any “provocative actions” against the Russian peacekeepers and condemned the deployment of “extra troops” to the South Ossetian conflict zone.

“On January 31, 2006 the Georgian side demonstratively reinforced its military presence in the village of Tkviavi, near the city of Tskhinvali, under the pretext of dealing with the traffic accident. Over 500 servicemen from the Georgian Military Police and brigade stationed in the town of Gori were dispatched [to the conflict zone],” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement reads.

The statement says that only the restraint of the Russian peacekeepers alone made an aversion of an armed confrontation possible.

The statement also argues that “those who aim to provoke bloodshed prevail in the political establishment in Tbilisi.”