By empty (6/12/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Russian Defense Ministry did not confirm that military hardware was brought to South Ossetia from Russia. \"The Defense Ministry\'s press service does not confirm the information that weapons and military hardware have been transferred to Georgian territory from Russia,\" a Defense Ministry spokesman told Interfax on Saturday. As was reported earlier, Chairman of the Georgian parliamentary defense and national security committee Givi Targamadze told the press in Tbilisi on Saturday that about 150 vehicles carrying military personnel, weapons, and ammunition had entered South Ossetia from Russia overnight.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not confirm that military hardware was brought to South Ossetia from Russia. \"The Defense Ministry\'s press service does not confirm the information that weapons and military hardware have been transferred to Georgian territory from Russia,\" a Defense Ministry spokesman told Interfax on Saturday. As was reported earlier, Chairman of the Georgian parliamentary defense and national security committee Givi Targamadze told the press in Tbilisi on Saturday that about 150 vehicles carrying military personnel, weapons, and ammunition had entered South Ossetia from Russia overnight. \"Military hardware, particularly several armored vehicles and anti- aircraft guns, were also brought to South Ossetia, and some of them were deployed to the area where the Russian peacekeeping forces are stationed,\" Targamadze said. Meanwhile, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity categorically denied the reports on the transfer of military forces to the republic. \"There has been no transfer or regrouping of troops,\" Kokoity said at a press conference at the Interfax main office on Saturday. \"This was a humanitarian convoy, because South Ossetia has actually been blockaded for three months,\" he said. Aide to the commander of the 58th army of the Russian North Caucasus military district Lt. Col. Alexander Koval told Interfax on Saturday that food, fuel, spare parts for the maintenance of hardware, and also coal and firewood were sent to the Russian peacekeeping unit in South Ossetia \"to ensure proper living conditions for them.\" (Interfax)