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General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of staff of the Russian military: "Israel armed the Georgian army."
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| By Israel Insider staff August 19, 2008 |
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General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of staff of the Russian military revealed Tuesday details of military assistance that Moscow claimed Jerusalem had given Georgia in recent years. "Israel armed the Georgian army," he told a press conference in the Russian capital.
He said Israel provided Georgia with "eight types of military vehicles, explosives, landmines and special explosives for the clearing minefields." Since 2007, he continued, Israeli experts have been training Georgian commando troops; and Israel had planned to supply Georgia with heavy firearms, electronic weapons and tanks, but that plan was eventually scrapped.
Israeli aid to Georgia is no secret, and relations between the Jewish State and the emerging Caucasus democracy have been unusually warm. Indeed, several members of the Georgian government, including the Defense Minister, are Israeli citizens and Jews. Last year Georgia's President and a large entourage of businessmen and politicians made a high profile junket to Israel.
For the past seven years, according to a report in YnetNews, Israeli companies have been helping Georgian army to prepared for war against Russia through arms deals, training of infantry units and security advice
"The subject is closely monitored," said sources in the Defense Ministry last week. "We are not operating in any way which may counter Israeli interests. We have turned down many requests involving arms sales to Georgia; and the ones which have been approves have been duly scrutinized. So far, we have placed no limitations on the sale of protective measures."
Israel began selling arms to Georgia following initiatives by Georgian immigrants to Israel. "They contacted defense industry officials and arms dealers and told them that Georgia had relatively large budgets and could be interested in purchasing Israeli weapons," says a source involved in arms exports. Georgia's defense minister, Davit Kezerashvili, is a former Israeli who is fluent in Hebrew contributed to this cooperation.
"His door was always open to the Israelis who came and offered his country arms systems made in Israel," the source said. "Compared to countries in Eastern Europe, the deals in this country were conducted fast, mainly due to the defense minister's personal involvement." Among the Israelis who took advantage of the opportunity and began doing business in Georgia were former Minister Roni Milo and his brother Shlomo, former director-general of the Military Industries, Brigadier-General (Res.) Gal Hirsch and Major-General (Res.) Yisrael Ziv.
Israelis operating in Georgia attempted to convince the Israeli Aerospace Industries to sell various systems to the Georgian air force, but were turned down. The reason for the refusal was "special" relations created between the Aerospace Industries and Russia in terms of improving fighter jets produced in the former USSR. There was a fear that selling weapons to Georgia would anger the Russians and cause them to cancel the deals.
Israelis' activity in Georgia and the deals they struck there were all authorized by the Defense Ministry. But as tension between Russia and Georgia grew, increasing voices were heard in Israel, particularly the Foreign Ministry, calling on the Defense Ministry to be more selective in approving arms deals with Georgia. "It was clear that too many unmistakable Israeli systems in the possesion of the Georgian army would be like a red cloth in the face of a raging bull as far as Russia is concerned," a source in the defense establishment told Ynet.
Those chickens have come home to roost, and the more cautious and balanced Israeli approach appears to have prevented worse fallout in relations with the Russians.
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