MOSCOW, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- There is no need for Russia to deploy its S-300 missile defense system to the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, a Russian Defense Ministry source said.
Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze said this week that, although Moscow hadn't announced it, the S-300 missile defense system was deployed to the region.
Russian Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, the commander of the Russian air force, said Aug. 11 that the missile defense shield was deployed to protect sensitive airspace. The U.S. State Department confirmed the move, though it suggested the defense shield was in place for the last two years.
Russia and Georgia fought a brief, bitter war in 2008 as Georgian forces launched attacks on the separatist republic of South Ossetia. The conflict spilled over to engulf Abkhazian forces.
A source in the Russian Defense Ministry, however, denied the S-300 was in South Ossetia, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
The source said Moscow had other defense systems in place in the breakaway republic, adding the terrain in the region wasn't conducive to the S-300.
"There are no Russian S-300 systems on the territory of South Ossetia," the source said. "There is no need for it."
