An unidentified aircraft entered and exited Georgian airspace from Russia on August 6, the International Group of Experts (IGE) investigating the August 6 missile incident has concluded.
The aircraft crossed into Georgia three times close to the town of Stepantsminda (formerly Kazbegi), a report issued on August 15 reads. It said every pass was conducted by a single aircraft.
The IGE, consisting of experts from Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and the United States, was unable to identify the aircraft’s type or origin. The Georgian authorities, however, claim it was an SU-24 attack aircraft.
“The first pass into Georgian airspace lasted less than a minute. The final two passes into Georgian airspace lasted significantly longer and the unidentified aircraft went deeper into Georgian airspace,” the report reads.
The IGE identified the missile, dropped near the South Ossetian conflict zone at the village of Tsitelubani, as a Russian designed Kh-58 (AS-II KILTER) anti-radar missile.
“The Georgian Air Force (GAF) does not possess aircraft equipped with or able to launch Kh-58 missiles. The GAF does not operate aircraft able to fly the profile flown by the unidentified aircraft,” the report said.
The IGE has not been able to verify statements concerning a second impact. Authorities in breakaway South Ossetia claimed that the aircraft was Georgian and had fired two missiles, one of which, they said, had landed on their territory.
The IGE has also not been able to verify reports concerning a hand-held portable air defense system (MANPADS) being fired at the unidentified aircraft. According to information leaked from the Georgian investigation the aircraft could have jettisoned, rather than fired, a missile, after it had come under fire from the South Ossetian side. Reports suggested that the South Ossetians fired a Strela shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile and in order to outmaneuver the rocket, the pilot jettisoned the missile. Hence the reason why the missile failed to explode.
The IGE, a group of eight technical and operational experts, was set up after four countries responded to Georgia’s call for an independent international investigation into the August 6 missile incident. The IGE worked from August 12 to 14.
“The Group’s report confirms the authenticity of all the evidence gathered by the Georgian side,” Davit Dondua, a Georgian Foreign Ministry representative, said on August 15.
He also said that the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos would send a Special Representative to Georgia to study the on-the-ground situation surrounding the missile incident.
Meanwhile, a group of 25 Russian military experts will arrive in Tbilisi on August 16 to participate in a joint Russian-Georgian investigation of the incident.
The delegation, led by the chief of staff of the Russian Air Force, Igor Khvorov, will arrive in Tbilisi on a special charter flight. Russia cut regular direct flights with Georgia last year as part of its transport and trade embargo.
The group also includes Russian Foreign Ministry special representative Valery Kenyakin and experts from the Russian Ministry of Defense.
“The Russian Foreign Ministry hopes that the upcoming Russian-Georgian interaction will help to objectively shed light on the incident,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on August 15.