Georgia Cannot Defend its Territory from Bombs

The Resonance; The Akhali Taoba; The Dilis Gazeti

(Georgian Press Digest. 30.11.01 Civil Georgia) – Since August 1999, when Russia dropped first bombs on the Georgian territory, Georgian airspace was violated for many times. The Resonance presumes that the Defense Ministry of Georgia can easily down any jets illegally crossing the country’s border but it never does. The reason is the fact that there is no political will for it, the paper says.

According to the Akhali Taoba, downing warplanes bombing Georgia would mean a declaration of war to Russia. The paper says that Georgia can never declare and win a war. The Dilis Gazeti, on the other hand, claims that the surface-tour-missiles that Georgia has can never down the SU-24 bombing Georgia.

“Neither protest notes nor Shevardnadze as “a big politician” can defend the population from Russian bombs and the USA and the West are too far away”, the Dilis Gazeti says. It also talks about the lack of finances in the military sphere, insufficiency of radiolocation stations and says the whole government is responsible for the situation created.

“None of the official departments can guarantee that Russian aviation will stop bombing different parts of Georgia”, the Akhali Taoba says. It presumes that Russian aviation might bomb Tbilisi soon. It says Georgian society is not very hopeful about the meeting of Shevardnadze and Putin.

The Dilis Gazeti, on the other hand, claims that Shevardnadze will by all means strictly state to the Russian President about the facts of bombardment. “Putin’s answer on the statement will very much define future relations between the two countries”, it says.