On August 6 the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili visited the village of Tsitelubani and personally inspected the site where an aircraft coming from Russian territory dropped a precision guided missile after violating Georgia's airspace some 80 kilometers deep into Georgian sovereign territory. President Saakashvili also spoke to local eyewitnesses, who described yesterday's incident in detail, and met with foreign ambassadors to address them regarding the attack. The President of Georgia called on the international community to respond decisively to this action against a neighboring state.

[Saakashvili] This whole incident, just like the bombing of upper Abkhazia several months ago, is targeted towards one thing only - disrupting Georgia's peace and stability, causing panic and disunity in society and altering our political course. Our response to these acts of provocation will be only our astonishing composure. We will respond to them with our unity, which they do not expect; we will respond with further construction works; we will respond to them with further development; we will respond to them with further consolidation, at an even greater pace than we have today. And let me assure you that we are doing these things at an impressive pace already, to ensure nobody maintains an illusion that such acts can intimidate the Georgian population, the multiethnic population of Georgia.

I think that this act was committed by a weak force, by weak people - and Georgia today is far stronger than that. Our country can face these attacks with greater determination and self-will. We will cope with these challenges - and challenges worse than this - if our country's freedom and future demand it. Let me tell you that the majority of the population here are ethnic Ossetians, although for me ethnic Ossetians and ethnic Georgians are the same. We all are one; nobody will be able to undermine our unity. This is indeed a sign of bitterness and discord on the part of the attackers: a reaction to the fact that problems are disappearing between the Georgians and ethnic Ossetians. Those who perpetrated this bombing are thinking, well, let's do something, let's plot something. Yet, with this act they will further consolidate our bonds, our accord and our fellowship.

We are not in an accusatory mood at all. Simply put, we are just demanding a reasonable response from Moscow.

Communications Office
of the President of Georgia