South Ossetia claims Georgia is moving tanks close to border!
MOSCOW, Russia - December 29, 2008
- Georgia is moving tanks and armored vehicles closer to the border with South
Ossetia, the Georgian breakaway republic said Monday.
"According to intelligence
reports, Georgia has moved 28 tanks to Gori, where a tank battalion is
stationed. In addition, Cobra armored vehicles have been spotted in the village
of Nikozi near the South Ossetian border," the state committee on information
and press said in a statement.
The European Union Monitoring
Mission (EUMM) said last Friday it was concerned over the deployment by Georgia
of Cobra armored vehicles in areas close to the South Ossetian and Abkhazian
borders.
Georgia's Interior Ministry has
confirmed reports of Cobra vehicles being in a number of villages and said the
EU has been informed of that.
The head of the ministry's
analytical department said the vehicles are employed to patrol and control the
situation.
"We brought Cobra vehicles to
border villages, including Nikozi, two weeks ago," Shota Utiashvili said.
Georgia attacked South Ossetia on August 7-8 in an
attempt to regain control over the republic, which, along with Abkhazia, split
from Georgia in the early 1990s.
