Shots rang out near a convoy of cars
carrying Polish and Georgian presidents Lech Kaczynski and Mikheil Saakashvili
from the airport in Tbilisi to a settlement near the Ossetian border, the
Polish president's chancellery said Sunday.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski was not hurt and the convoy returned to
Tbilisi, reported the Polish Press Agency PAP. The settlement
was to be Kaczynski's first stop during a visit to Georgia, dpa reported.
"We were traveling along a mountain road in the direction of
Ossetia. We stopped and didn't make it to our destination, and now we're
returning to Tbilisi," said a PAP journalist who was traveling with
Kaczynski. "We heard shots. We don't know what happened."
A presidential minister told PAP the incident occurred at a spot that,
according to a peace plan for the Georgia-Russian conflict, "should be in
Georgian hands," and that Russian soldiers were, "at a distance of 30 metres from the president."
It was unclear whether the shots were aimed at the convoy, or if they were
warning shots, presidential minister Michal Kaminski told PAP.
A Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman said the vice-minister, who was along on
the trip, heard three shots in the distance when nearing the settlement 40 kilometers north of Tbilisi.
...