Russian military helicopters drop incendiary bombs

On 15th of August, at approximately 15:30 local time Russian military helicopters started bombing the bordering territories of the city of Borjomi and settlement of Tsemi using incendiary munitions, weapon prohibited by the international convention. The broad areas of timber land have been set on fire and fifteen sets of fire have broken out in southern parts of Georgia.

With this move the Russian Federation violated international obligations it has undertaken, particularly the Protocol III (on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons) of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (Geneva, 10 October 1980). The Paragraph 4 of the Article 2 of the Protocol prohibits making forests or other kinds of plant cover the object of attack by incendiary weapons.

Above mentioned fact once again clearly demonstrates how does Russian Federation disregard international obligations it has been committed to and despite all international norms, along with the occupation of Georgia cynically carries out intentional destruction of the natural resources of the country while extremely endangering civilian population.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia calls upon the International Community to resolutely condemn Russian actions on Georgian soil and urge it to comply with the Agreement on Cease-Fire.