2007 Georgia helicopter incident

Diplomatic incident involving Russia March 2024 thumb|300px|Location of the Kodori Gorge On 11 March 2007, three military helicopters attacked the village of Chkhalta in Abkhazia, a breakaway republic in north-western Georgia. The village lies in the Kodori Gorge, at the time the only portion of Abkhazia still under Georgian control.it was then lost at the Battle of the Kodori Valley;"Georgia Says Helicopters From Russia Attacked Gorge" in Radio Free Europe, 12 March 2007, https://web.archive.org/web/20070930041316/http://www.rferl.org/features/features_Article.aspx?m=03&y=2007&id=818F9A6D-9D9A-428E-9E9F-2411731CF4E2 30 September 2007 Georgia accused Russia of being behind the attack, which damaged a school and the government headquarters of the Georgian-backed Abkhaz government-in-exile.Molly Corso, "Georgia: Kodori attack – fresh cause for conflict", 19 March 2007, Russia denied the accusations and said all its aircraft near the area were grounded over the weekend. Reactions Georgia Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili held an emergency meeting after the alleged incident and told the Security Council that the incident created a grave situation and constituted "a very dangerous, serious and far-reaching provocation" but he stopped short of pointing the finger at Russia directly. He said that he didn't "want to make accusations against one particular side. The [Georgian] foreign minister has received instructions to contact his Russian counterpart and firmly demand that Russia react to this situation."Georgia Says Helicopters From Russia Attacked Gorge https://www.rferl.org/a/1075206.html 10 March 2017 Radio Free Europe On 14 March, Nikoloz Rurua, the then deputy chairman of the Georgian parliament's Committee for Defense and Security, did point the finger at Russia as he said that the helicopters came from Russian territory."Georgian Official Says Kodori Attack Came From Russia" in Radio Free Europe, 14 March 2007, He further said that the "helicopters, preliminarily identified as Mi-24 attack gunships, flew [into the Kodori Gorge] from Russian territory or, to be precise, from the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria. They made a circle above the villages of Upper Abkhazia, and as they were making a second circle they dropped about 20 unguided rockets, or so-called NURS (Russian-made unguided) rockets." Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Eka Sguladze made similar allegations in remarks to foreign diplomats that day. Russia The deputy commander of Russia's ground forces, Lieutenant General Valery Yevnevich responded that helicopters could not have flown over the Caucasus mountain range. Yevnevich said: "From the Russian side, it is impossible for helicopters to find a passage to fly through because of the high mountains. Mount Elbrus is over 5,000 meters high. Helicopters cannot fly over the Caucasus mountain range for technical reasons." Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin added that Russia was investigating the circumstances of the shooting, but noted that the air force said it did not conduct flights in the area at the time. Abkhazia Abkhazia's leader Sergei Bagapsh denied such incident. United Nations A quadripartite Joint Fact-Finding Group (JFFG) was convened to investigate the incident. The JFFG, headed by the UN Observer Mission in Georgia, also involved representatives of Russian peacekeepers, and both the Georgian and Abkhaz sides. The interim report was released on 2 April 2007, followed by a supplementary report on 13 June.Joint Fact-Finding Group Report on the Rocket Firing Incident in the upper Kodori valley on 11 March 2007. JFFG Report Annexes. United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia. 13 June 2007. The report was inconclusive, but it confirmed that "helicopters used multiple approaches from the north" to reach the upper Kodori Gorge. It also ruled out the possibility of Georgia's involvement in the incident.UNOMIG Report on Kodori Attack. Civil Georgia. 12 July 2007. Aftermath Georgia accused Russia of a similar incident in August 2007 when a missile was allegedly fired upon Georgian soil, which was denied by Russia. Georgia pressed the UN Security Council to look into both the helicopter and the missile incident.Experts confirm jet entered Georgian airspace from Russia https://www.rferl.org/a/1078180.html 11 March 2024 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 16 August 2007 On 22 August 2007, a plane downing incident took place that involved the downing by Georgia's anti-aircraft system, of a military plane that violated Georgia's air space. Abkhazia's break-away government stated that a plane crashed, and rejected the claim that it was shot down.https://www.reuters.com/article/us-georgia-russia-airplane/pro-russian-abkhazia-says-georgian-plane-crashed-idUSL2533493320070825 Pro-Russian Abkhazia says Georgian plane crashed U.S. 25 August 2007 19 January 2018 Reuters McHedlishvili Niko http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2007/08/2008525133040569829.html Georgia overflight dispute deepens www.AlJazeera.com 19 January 2018 References Georgia helicopter incident Helicopter incident Category:Abkhaz–Georgian conflict Category:Georgia (country)–Russia relations Georgia Helicopter Attack, 2007 Helicopter incident Georgia Helicopter Attack, 2007 Category:March 2007 in Asia Category:Helicopter attacks Category:2007 airstrikes