TBILISI. Oct 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Gela Bezhuashvili has described reports spread about Georgian air raids on the Gulripsh district on Tuesday as "a deliberate provocation".
"All Defense Ministry military planes are at permanent locations and have made no flights, which can be confirmed by documentary evidence," Bezhuashvili said in an interview with Interfax on Tuesday.
According to the deputy minister, "material proof of the bombardment of the Sakeni and Omarshara villages by hitherto unidentified helicopters and planes on Tuesday morning is being gathered" in Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge.
"This proof, in the form of shell and bomb splinters, will be found and submitted to the international community," Bezhuashvili.
"The Abkhazian side does not have SU-25 Frogfoot planes and helicopter gunships in its arsenal," and therefore a third party may be considered. "Naming this party before material evidence has been collected would be premature but it will be named for sure," the deputy minister said.
The Georgian Defense Ministry has been taking no "reciprocal steps" over the Kodori Gorge bombing so far. "However, someone is preparing a very serious provocation against Georgia, and the world community should be informed about this," the deputy defense minister said.