TBILISI. July 23 (Interfax-AVN) - Deputy Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Vakhtang Rcheushvili said on Wednesday that he could understand Russia's discontent with flights of NATO's AWACS air scouts over the Georgian territory.
"Russia's reaction to this is negative primarily because there was no warning from Tbilisi. Such a reaction is understandable because this was an air scout that could reconnoiter the Russian territory," Rcheushvili told reporters.
"This was indeed a mistake, because Georgia should have warned the Russian party in advance," he said.
Rcheushvili stressed that Russia could not prevent the AWACS flight in any way.
"The fight would have taken place regardless of anything, because Georgia has embarked on the way towards integration into NATO, and it is only up to Georgia to decide whether it will allow NATO planes to cross its air space," the deputy speaker said.