MoD: 4 Russian Aircraft Violate Georgian Airspace
Four aircraft intruded into Georgian airspace over South Ossetia from the Russian Federation in the evening on July 8, the Georgia Ministry of Defense (MoD) said on Wednesday.
Two aircraft entered Georgian airspace at about 8:11pm and nine minutes later two others followed, Zurab Pochkhua, the deputy commander of the Georgian Air Force, said on July 9.
He said that Georgian radar had picked up the four aircraft 80 kilometers deep inside the Russian Federation and had tracked them crossing the Georgian border over the Roki Tunnel (linking South Ossetia with Russia). The radar, he said, shows the aircraft remaining in Georgian airspace for about forty minutes, circling around an area north of Tskhinvali, the capital of breakaway South Ossetia.
“Cases of violation of Georgia’s airspace occurred in the past as well, but this recent case was of an especially provocative nature, because it posed a threat not only to the local population of the region, but also to international flights,” the deputy commander said.
