Thread: Gunshots Fired At Both Georgian, Polish Presidents

Gunshots fired at Georgian, Polish presidents, officials sa Highlights
NEW: Russian peacekeepers, South Ossetia deny involvement in shooting

Leaders' motorcade was not hit, and there were no injuries, Interior officials say

Ministry: Motorcade was passing a checkpoint near Georgia's South Ossetia

The shots were fired from Russian-controlled territory, ministry officials say


(CNN) -- Shots were fired Sunday at a motorcade carrying the presidents of Georgia and Poland, but the motorcade was not hit and there were no injuries, according to the Interior Ministry of Georgia.


Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, shown in France on November 13, called the incident a provocation.

The ministry said the motorcade, which carried Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Polish President Lech Kaczynski, was passing a checkpoint near Georgia's South Ossetia region when the shots were fired.

No other shooting was reported in the area. South Ossetia was the site of intense conflict between Russian and Georgian troops in August.

The shots were fired from Russian-controlled territory as the motorcade passed, the ministry said.

Saakashvili later told reporters the incident "clearly was intended as a provocation."

He said that he would not have taken his Polish counterpart into danger intentionally and that the incident showed "you are dealing with unpredictable people" in the disputed area.

Meanwhile, the Russian news agency Interfax said the command of the Russian peacekeeping force in South Ossetia denied blame for the gunfire.

"Allegations that Russian military personnel were involved in the fire against the motorcade are not true. An attack on the motorcade from our military personnel is out of the question," a peacekeeping force spokesman said, according to Interfax.

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The news agency also quoted a senior South Ossetian official as saying that South Ossetia "has nothing to do" with the incident.

"The Georgian side is once again disseminating misinformation," South Ossetian Deputy Defense Minister Ibragim Gasseyev told Interfax.

Tensions have remained high in the area since fighting between Russian and Georgian troops broke out in August.

Georgia launched a campaign against South Ossetia, a Russian-backed separatist territory, on August 7. The following day, Russian tanks, troops and armored vehicles poured into South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian territory, Abkhazia, advancing into Georgian cities across the administrative borders with those regions.

The two sides blamed each other for starting the conflict and have accused each other of a variety of offenses leading up to and during the fighting, including ethnic cleansing.




http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11 ... pstoryview

Don't know if there is a connection. Seems a bit strange.


Germany declines comment on Kosovo spy report

Sat Nov 22, 2008 4:57pm PagePRISTINA


(Reuters) - Germany declined to comment on Saturday on reports that three Germans arrested on suspicion of throwing explosives at an EU office in Kosovo were intelligence officers.

The explosive charge was thrown on November 14 at the International Civilian Office (ICO), the office of EU Special Representative Pieter Feith, who oversees Kosovo's governance, but caused only minor damage. The men were detained on Thursday.

The three were questioned on Saturday by a Pristina district court judge who ordered them to be detained until December 22.

A defense lawyer told reporters that the three were suspected of having committed an act of terrorism.

A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin confirmed that three Germans had been arrested, but declined to make any further comment as an investigation was under way.

A police source in Kosovo told Reuters: "They are members of the BND," but gave no further details.

The German weekly Der Spiegel also said the men worked for the German intelligence agency BND, and that they had told investigators they had been examining the scene of the explosion, but had not been involved in it.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February after nine years under U.N. stewardship and is recognized by more than 50 countries, including Germany.

Four days before the bomb attack, its leaders rejected a plan by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's for the deployment of an EU police and justice mission, EULEX.

Der Spiegel said the BND agents had not been officially registered with Kosovo authorities, which would have secured them diplomatic immunity.

A judge in Pristina was due to decide on Saturday whether to extend the men's detention or release them on bail.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Writing by Kerstin Gemlich and Ivana Sekularac. Editing by Richard Williams)




http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNew ... =worldNews