The United States shares the deep concern expressed by Georgia about the belligerent December 21 statement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as persistent violations of Georgian territory and airspace. The most serious such incident, which occurred yesterday, resulted in the wounding of four Georgian border guards.

We strong urge the Russian Government to conduct a thorough investigation of this incident, and to give an explanation to the Georgian Government.

Deputy Secretary Talbott has already raised this issue with the senior Russian officials. The U.S. once again reminds Russia, as it pursues its military campaign in Chechnya, to take special care to respect the independence and security concerns of Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Unfortunately, Russia has voiced persistent allegations, unsupported by any compelling evidence, that Georgia is willfully supporting the Chechens, and that the Georgian-Chechen border is wide open to the transit of fighters, arms and money in either direction.

However, recent reporting from Shatili indicates that the situation is quite different.

The first trip to the border by the OSCE Georgia Mission did, indeed, report the presence of Chechen fighters in the area. However, there was no indication of any transit of arms or fighters in either direction.

Three subsequent OSCE trips to Shatili have found the border under full Georgian control. Once again, there was no evidence of transit of arms or personnel.

Likewise, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi recently sent a team up to view the situation on the border first-hand. Like the OSCE, the U.S. Embassy team confirmed that the Georgians are in control of the border, and saw no evidence of smuggling.

What it did see, however, were numerous violations of Georgian airspace by Russian aircraft.

Mr. Chairman, in light of Russian accusations against Georgia, it is more important than ever to have an OSCE presence at the border to give an objective account of the situation there.