06 August 2008, 12:45
Georgia denies Israel stopped supplying it pilotless airplanes
According to Israeli press, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel has imposed veto on exporting offensive arms and pilotless airplanes to Georgia in order to avoid deteriorating relations with Russia. This information is refuted in Georgia.
According to Israeli media, the decision on embargo was passed by Tzipi Livni, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the basis of the official request from the Russian government which had been submitted after a Georgian pilotless airplane of Israeli manufacture was shot down in March of the current year in Abkhazia.
NEWSru Israel, referring to the newspaper "Maariv", reports that in its letter handed over through the military attach? of Israel in Moscow in April this year, Russia requests that Israel should stop its deliveries of arms to Georgia in the same way it periodically avoided transactions with arms at the request of Israel.
According to IA "Trend", Temur Yakobashvili, Georgian state minister for integration, refuted the reports on the arms embargo Israel imposed on Georgia. "These are all rumors in the Israeli press which appeared due to internal political squabbles in the country where compromises are widely used in fights", stated the state minister at a briefing in Tbilisi.
Today, the Israeli embassy in Moscow stated that they knew nothing about any veto on exporting offensive arms to Georgia imposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the request of Russia, as claimed by the newspaper "Maariv".