MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgian claims alleging a nighttime raid was conducted by Russian helicopters in the Upper Kodori Gorge are provocative, Land Forces Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General Valery Yevnevich said on Monday.
"The weather is very bad in the mountains, and helicopters of the peacekeeping force in Abkhazia cannot be used at night as they do not have night vision instruments. Georgian claims alleging Russian helicopters were involved in a raid can only be described as a provocative act," he told reporters.
Georgia said that the Chkhalta village came under fire from helicopters, which flew from Russia, and from missile systems deployed in Tkvarcheli, Yevnevich said.
"It is impossible for helicopters to fly from Russia. Mountain peaks in the region are over 5,000 meters high, and it is technically impossible for helicopters to fly over the Caucasian Ridge. It is also impossible to use missile systems from Tkvarcheli, as cliffs are more than 3,000 meters high in Kodori, and the shooting trajectory cannot be higher than 2,000 meters," he said.
According to the 106th and 107th observation posts, they heard "sporadic outbursts of automatic gunfire and running engines. Yet there was no shooting or helicopter raids," he said.
"The upper part of the gorge will be monitored starting from 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday," he said.
Yevnevich recalled Georgian reports of a similar incident on October 26, 2006. "Observers investigated the reports and established that there was no shooting at all," he said.
The general told reporters that Georgia has committed 67 airspace violations in the region, including 57 by single helicopters and nine by groups, as well as nine ground border violations since the deployment of Georgian Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry units in the upper part of the Kodori gorge and establishment of the so-called "Abkhaz government in exile" there in July 2006. "All these violations were registered by observers of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone," he said.
He also noted that Georgia's policy makes it impossible to carry out full-scale patrolling of the upper Kodori gorge by peacekeepers and UN observers. "In particular, helicopters of the peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone have not flown over the area since January 2000 due to frequent provocation acts," he said.