MOSCOW – Russia said yesterday it had deployed high-precision air defence missiles in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, sending a defiant signal to Tblisi and the West two years after a war with Georgia.
The formidable S-300 missile system bolstered Moscow’s military presence in the disputed territory and drew an angry response from Georgia.
Gen Alexander Zelin, the commander of Russia’s air force, said that air defences of other types had been deployed in Georgia’s other Russian-backed rebel region, South Ossetia.
His comments, two years after Russia routed Georgian forces in a five-day war that badly strained Moscow’s ties with the United States and Europe, were reported by Russian news agencies.
“The task of these air defences is not only to cover the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but also to avert violations of their state borders in the air and destroy any vehicle illegally penetrating their air space, whatever the goal of its mission,” Gen Zelin said.
The general said the air defence systems would also protect Russian bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “At the same time, the task of air defence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia will be also implemented by frontline and army aviation carrying out combat duties there,” he said.
Georgia reacted promptly, accusing Moscow of “strengthening its image and role as an occupying country”.
“It shows . . . not only that Russia does not intend to withdraw its troops from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but that it is actually strengthening its military control over these territories,” said Eka Tkeshelashvili, Georgia’s National Security Council secretary.
The two rebel regions have been out of Georgia’s control since the early 1990s. In August 2008, Russia crushed a Georgian assault on South Ossetia, launched after days of clashes between Georgian and rebel forces.
Since then, Moscow has recognised the two territories as independent states, strengthened its control over them and signed deals with them to build permanent military bases.
Georgia remains a close US ally and hopes to join Nato, but its unresolved territorial disputes and Russia’s growing presence in the rebel regions have made this goal more distant.
Last month, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton visited Tbilisi and voiced concern over Russian plans to build up military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, calling on Moscow to end its “occupation” of Georgian lands.
The S-300, codenamed “Favourite” in Russia, is a mobile, long-range air defence system that can detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and both high- and low-flying aircraft.
The US and Israel have repeatedly voiced concern over possible deliveries of S-300s to Iran. – (Reuters)