By empty (1/22/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Russian Foreign Ministry has described as “hysteria and bacchanalia” Georgian officials’ pronouncements on the explosions of gas pipelines in North Ossetia. Russia “is trying to minimize the consequences for Georgian residents, while Tbilisi is making comments, which cannot be described other than hysteria and bacchanalia,” the ministry said. Members of the Georgian administration “have used the occasion for escalating the anti-Russian campaign.

By empty (1/22/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

A criminal investigation has been launched into a series of explosions that hit a North Ossetian gas pipeline under charges of a premeditated destruction of property, Russia\'s Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel told Interfax on Sunday. Two explosive devices used to blow up the gas pipeline had a yield equivalent to 700-800 grams of TNT, he said. \"Luckily, no one was hurt and no serious damage was done to the environment,\" Shepel said, adding that this is why the crime is not being seen as a terror attack.

By empty (1/22/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

At least seven days will be required to repair the Kavkasioni high-voltage electric power line, damaged by an explosion at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, Unified Energy System of Russia\'s spokesman Margarita Nagoga told Interfax.