Last few days, the Georgian side had several times opened fire at Tskhinval and its suburbs (Respublic of South Ossetia).
In the period of 29 July – 1 August 2009, the capital city of South Ossetia had been subjected to repeated mortar and grenade-launcher shelling. The fire was opened at observation posts of the South Ossetian Armed Forces, and this speaks for provocative character of these actions.
The RF Ministry of Defense assesses these actions as an attempt by the Georgian authorities to aggravate the situation in the region. The events in August 2008 were developing according to similar scenario, and this brought to military aggression unleashed by the Georgian side against South Ossetia and attack at the Russian military contingent.
The RF Ministry of Defense is deeply concerned over these actions. In case of further provocations causing threats to the population of the Republic and the Russian military contingent deployed on the territory of South Ossetia, the Ministry of Defense of Russia reserves the right to resort to all means available to protect the citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia and Russian military contingent.
