On the night of 8-9 September the capital of the Republic of South Ossetia was again under massive shelling. The correspondent of Res agency was informed by the RSO Minister of Interior Mikhail Mindzaev
On 8 September, 2006 around 11:30 near village Tbet, Tskhinavli region of the Republic of South Ossetia, part of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, personnel of the Ministry of Interior of Georgia that penetrated into the conflict zone from village Nikozi carried out an armed attack on the check-point of the Ministry of Interior.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia Murat Jioev addressed a letter to the acting OSCE chairman Carl De Guht that says:
According to the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of South Ossetia, near the Ossetian village Tbet was carried out an armed attack by the Georgian military formation against the check point of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of South Ossetia. According to the initial information, 3 people were killed from the Ossetian side.
Today a telephone conversation took place between the President of Republic of South Ossetia and the President of Republic of Abkhazia Sergey Bagapsh. The Presidents discussed the current situation around the Republics.
According to a source in the Ministry of Defense of Georgia, yesterday’s incident with Georgian military helicopter was prearranged by the Minister of Defense of Georgia Irakli Okruashvili.
According to the announcement of the JPKF Deputy Commander Captain Vladimir Ivanov, on 3rd September 2006 at 15:37 the air space of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone was violated by Georgian military helicopter Mi-8 that was proceeding from south-east to north-west above villages Abano-Balta-Vakhtana and went deeper over a distance of 7 kilometers.
On September 3, 2006 at 15:40 the air space of the Republic of South Ossetia was again violated. The helicopter proceeding from the territory of Georgia ignored repeated requests and demands to change the course or to land. When the helicopter opened an aimed fire from a machine-gun, it was fired back by the South Ossetian subdivision.
Why did the American senators come? This question is raised by people in Tskhinval, they hope that the delegation came to see the situation on the spot. This time the foreign guests were in a hurry. The visit lasted only for 40 minutes but the senators were prepared for the visit in terms of delicate demonstration of their feeling for Tbilisi and indifference to South Ossetia.
On the 27th of August Tskhinval was visited by the most dignified delegation in the history of South Ossetia, the delegation from the American Senate – 15 Senators with their wives. The meeting was also attended by the OSCE Chief of Mission Mr. R. Riv.