MOSCOW. July 15 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry has no plans to deploy S-300 air defense missile systems in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, chief of the ministry's press service Colonel Nikolai Deryabin told Interfax- Military News Agency on Tuesday.
Deryabin refuted media reports that Russia is considering deployment of S-300 air defense missile systems in Abkhazia in response to the recent flights of E-3 AWACS planes over Georgia.
"This measure is absolutely absurd from both military and political points of view. The Russian peacekeeping contingent in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone has the composition and armament determined by the mandate of the CIS Heads of State Council and parties to the conflict," Deryabin said.