Saturday, August 16, 2008

Russian troops prevent arms smuggling to South Ossetia

Russian troops prevent arms smuggling to South Ossetia (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, August 16, 2008 - Russian troops detained two cars carrying ammunition via a humanitarian channel into the Georgian breakaway republic of South Ossetia, a senior Russian military official said Saturday. Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, said that on Friday afternoon Russian troops stopped two cars with civilian and military people. "A gun shot erupted during the inspection as a result of which one car was damaged and the other managed to flee the scene of the incident," he said. Nogovitsyn said that the damaged car contained 19 grenade launchers and a box with cartridges and grenades. Russia sent troops and armored vehicles into the conflict region to expel Georgian troops from South Ossetia following Tbilisi's offensive on Tskhinvali, the capital of the rebel republic, on August 8. As a result of Georgia's military offensive Tskhinvali was mostly destroyed. According to Russian figures, around 1,600 civilians were killed.

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