Georgia denies claim of “aggressive rearming”

Matt Robinson and Dmitry Solovyov
Reuters
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Georgia on Wednesday dismissed as a “myth” Russian accusations that it was aggressively rearming and said it was in contact with ally Washington to defuse tensions over rebel South Ossetia.

Russia crushed a Georgian assault on the breakaway territory in August last year, and tensions have grown ahead of Friday’s first war anniversary, with accusations from both sides of gun and mortar fire on South Ossetia’s border.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

Moscow on Wednesday again expressed concern that Georgia was rearming with Western help, but said it did not believe the former Soviet republic was capable of launching another offensive against South Ossetia.

“As a military man, I will be forthright: if there is an (act of) aggression, there will be an adequate response,” Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Russia’s deputy chief of general staff, told a news conference after the army on Tuesday stepped up the combat readiness of troops in the rebel region.

Full story here.

Comment Rules

Comments are closed.