Georgia Accuses Russia Of Selling Missiles To Abkhazia

Russian troops in Abkhazia (file photo) (ITAR-TASS) 13 February 2006 -- Georgia has accused the Russian Army of selling surface-to-air missiles to the separatist region of Abkhazia.

Georgian Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili displayed a Strela missile to television cameras and legislators, saying it had been delivered to an Abkhaz town from a Russian military base in southern Georgia.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov dismissed the charges. He said a routine inventory taken at the beginning of February indicated no theft of weapons at the base.

(AFP)