Georgia says pipe damage halted gas supplies to S. Ossetia

MOSCOW, November 17 (RIA Novosti) - Tbilisi claims that pipeline damage is responsible for the suspension of natural gas deliveries to its breakaway province of South Ossetia, a Gazprom spokesman told a radio station on Monday.

Tbilisi closed the Gori-Tskhinvali pipeline that pumped gas from Russia to South Ossetia via Georgia when a brief war broke out in August.

"The Georgian side claims that the Gori-Tskhinvali gas pipeline has been damaged," Sergei Kupriyanov told Ekho Moskvy.

He added that the Russian gas giant was unable to confirm or deny Tbilisi's claim since it had no access to the Georgian section of the pipeline.