De facto Tskhinvali says it has detected US surveillance aircraft near ‘its border’
The de facto government of Tskhinvali says that the US carried out surveillance operations ‘near the borders of South Ossetia.’ Photo: wikipedia.
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The de facto security agency of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region says that they have detected a US surveillance aircraft Global Hawk RQ-4B near ‘their border.’
The de facto agency stated that the drone ‘carried out air intelligence operations’ between January 14 - 21, 2021.
The aircraft took off from a NATO air base in Sicily and flew south of the South Ossetian-Georgian and Russian-Georgian state borders, above the territories of Shida-Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti and Kakheti," the so-called security agency said.
The agency also stated that Georgian intelligence officers were observed at the village of Tsnelisi (near the occupied region) and accused them of planning of ‘subversive acts’.
One Georgian citizen has been detained, while another has been sent to illegal pretrial detention by the Russian-controlled de facto government of Tskhinvali, the Georgian State Security Service reports.
The United Kingdom and Norway have joined the calls of foreign states for the ‘immediate release’ of illegally convicted Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze by Russian-controlled occupation forces.
The European Union calls for the immediate release of Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze, who was sentenced to 12 years and six months in the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region yesterday. The United States Embassy also expresses solidarity with Zaza Gakheladze and his family, and all families ‘who have had to endure Russia’s oppressive occupation’.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has called on the international community to ‘take genuine steps’ to secure the release of Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze, who was shot and illegally detained by the Russian controlled occupation forces last year and sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison earlier today.
The Georgian State Security Service says that illegal detention of Georgian citizens by the Russian-controlled occupation forces for so-called ‘illegally crossing the border’ is a common issue since Russia-Georgia 2008.
The Georgian State Security Service (SSS) has dismissed reports by opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV that individuals linked with the Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, are in Georgia. The Wagner Group is one of the most well-known paramilitary companies founded in Russia in the last decade.It is believed to be controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was once Putin's cook.