Security officers protect Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili (R) after a shooting at the checkpoint near South Ossetia's de facto border some 30 km (17 miles) west of Tbilisi. Georgia on Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of its pro-Western "Rose Revolution" as tensions rose with Moscow over claims that Russian forces had opened fire near a convoy carrying Saakashvili.(AFP/Pool/Irakli Gedenidze)
Two Presidents Say They Encountered Gunfire
-- New York Times
-- New York Times
TBILISI, Georgia — Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Lech Kaczynski of Poland said they were met with machine-gun fire when they visited a Russian checkpoint near the South Ossetian boundary on Sunday. Russia denied the claim.
No one was harmed in the encounter, but Mr. Saakashvili said it should convince Europe that Russia was in “the most extreme violation” of a French-brokered ceasefire. Kakha Lomaya, secretary of Georgia’s security council, said on Georgian television that Russia “endangered the life of our head of state and the president of a country that is part of the E.U. and NATO.”
South Ossetian and Russian authorities denied any shooting took place, and said the two presidents intentionally provoked their forces. Grigory Karasin, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, told the Interfax news agency that Mr. Saakashvili’s account of shooting was “one more instance of wishful thinking on the part of Georgia.”
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More News On The Assassination Attempt On The
Georgian And Polish Presidents
Georgian And Polish Presidents
Shots fired near Georgian, Polish leaders' convoy -- Reuters
Georgian, Polish presidents' motorcade fired on -- AP
Georgian, Polish presidents' motorcade fired on -- KESQ
Georgia accuses Russia in presidential convoy shooting -- Sydney Morning Herald
Gunshots fired at Georgian, Polish presidents, officials say -- CNN