In an online interview with Russia’s Gazeta.ru website US Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow said that the United States “strongly urged” Georgian authorities to de-escalate the conflict in South Ossetia after the “August incident when the convoy of [Russian MP Andrey] Kokoshin came under fire.”
Chairman of the Russian Duma Committee on relations with CIS Andrey Kokoshin was visiting Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia province on August 3-4, 2004 while the conflict there escalated. According to Kokoshin, the convoy of vehicles in which he was travelling came under fire from the Georgian positions.
At the time, Georgia condemned Kokoshin’s statements as a “provocation” while the Deputy Security Minister refused Georgian complacency. Georgian troops were withdrawn from South Ossetia on August 19.