(Tbilisi. March 23, 2003. Civil Georgia) – Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry delivered a statement to the US Embassy on March 22, protesting against the flights of US spy plane near the Russian border over Georgia and accusing Washington in use of “Cold War tactics.”
According to the Russian Defense Ministry two Russian fighter jets tracked the US U-2 spy plan on March 22, which flew 20-30 kilometers away from the Russian airspace over neighboring Georgia.
The U.S. Embassy said it had no comment, the Associated Press reported.
Russian Foreign Ministry claims this is the third case of US spy plane’s overflight above Georgia, near the Russian airspace. The first one occurred on February 27 and the second – on March 7, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“The US is known to explain that the task of such flights is to spot and identify international terrorists and their bases,” the Russian Ministry says in a statement.
“However we have already conveyed to the American side our concern in connection with such intelligence activity near Russia’s border, which can hardly be of real use for the purpose of fighting international terrorism and is more reminiscent of a practice associated with ‘Cold War’ times.”
Russia also said the intelligence gathering was inadmissible in light of the recent tension between US and Russia over the US-led attack on Iraq, which Moscow strongly opposes.
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