TBILISI, Aug 9: Georgia attempted to rally international support on Thursday behind its allegations that a Russian plane engaged in a missile strike on its territory, amid angry denials from Moscow.

Georgia’s Conflict Resolution Minister David Bakradze released a report written by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), stating that military observers located in Georgia at the time of Monday’s incident saw “one aircraft flying from northeast”. “There is no other country than Russia to the northeast,” the minister reasoned.

Other monitors reported seeing a plane fly from southwest to northeast, the report said.

An OSCE spokeswoman in Vienna, Virginie Coulloudon, stressed that it was “an internal report that does not represent the position of the OSCE”.

Meanwhile, Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili engaged in a round of telephone diplomacy to try to secure the holding of a United Nations Security Council session to discuss the incident.

“The Georgian foreign ministry is working very actively to obtain adequate international support over this missile incident and the minister held a series of conversations with his foreign counterparts,” his spokeswoman Nino Kizhaia said.

A North Atlantic Treaty Organisation spokeswoman said that the alliance’s Deputy Secretary-General Alessandro Minuto Rizzo had spoken with Mr Bezhuashvili.

“They agreed that Nato would stay in close contact with the Georgian authorities and that it will follow the ongoing investigations,” said the spokeswoman, Carmen Romero.

But Russia again rejected claims that one of its jets had entered Georgian airspace and released a missile.

Senior air force officer Igor Khvorov told journalists in Moscow: “We didn’t plan or carry out any flights over Georgian territory... It’s fairly difficult to talk about the flight because there was none.”

In a statement, the OSCE urged “an inclusive investigation” with “participation of all implicated parties”.

The United States said it was looking into the incident.

Such “provocations need to end,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack warned.

A Russian foreign ministry official, quoted by Interfax, said a UN Security Council session would be ‘inexpedient’. “What is important is to carry out a painstaking investigation to work out who stands behind this incident,” said the official.—AFP