Saakashvili says Russian officer killed in Georgia
Source: Reuters
(Corrects South Ossetia to Abkhazia in 1st paragraph) UNITED NATIONS, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said a Russian military officer was among two people killed when Georgian security forces clashed with Moscow-backed separatists in the breakaway province of Abkhazia on Wednesday. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin disputed the Georgian version of events, saying Georgian forces had attacked a training exercise in a move aimed at aggravating tensions between Moscow and the former Soviet republic. Saakashvili told the U.N. General Assembly: "One of the people was a lieutenant-colonel of the Russian military, and ... he was killed during a law-enforcement operation against armed separatist insurgents." Pointing an accusing finger at Moscow, he said: "One has to wonder -- what was a vice-colonel of the Russian military doing in the Georgian forests, organizing and leading a group of armed insurgents on a mission of terror?"
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