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Peacekeepers accuse Georgia of blocking missile dispute probe

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Peacekeepers said Monday Georgia's refusal to join monitoring efforts in breakaway South Ossetia was proving an obstacle to investigations into the alleged dropping of a missile near the region a week ago.
MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) - Peacekeepers said Monday Georgia's refusal to join monitoring efforts in breakaway South Ossetia was proving an obstacle to investigations into the alleged dropping of a missile near the region a week ago.

Yury Vereshchak, an aide to the Joint Peacekeeping Forces commander, said peacekeepers were seeking to collect as much additional data as possible about the incident to get a full idea of what happened on August 6.

"The only thing that is obstructing their work is the refusal by the Georgian military to join the monitoring efforts," he said.

Georgia's Defense Ministry earlier said it had proof that a Russian Su-24 Fencer tactical bomber violated Georgia's airspace last Monday, and fired a Raduga Kh-58 (NATO codename AS-11) anti-radar missile at a Georgian radar near a village 65 kilometers (about 40 miles) northwest of the Georgian capital, near the border with Georgia's self-declared republic of South Ossetia.

The 640-kilogram (1,400-pound) missile did not explode, but the incident has further fueled tensions between Russia and Tbilisi, whose relations have been strained ever since pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili came to power on the back of the so-called "rose revolution" in early 2004.

Russia has vehemently denied involvement in the August 6 incident, demanding a thorough probe and saying it was "a new provocation" staged by Tbilisi to thwart the regional peace process.

The Russian Air Force Chief of Staff said Thursday Georgia's accusation that Russia had violated its airspace was "political speculation."

Georgian experts are insisting that the dropped device was a Russian-made anti-radar guided missile, and that the kind of plane sighted - an Su-24 - is not in service with the Georgian Air Force.

However, the commander of joint peacekeeping forces in the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict zone said peacekeepers could not identify the missile, as Georgia quickly destroyed it.

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