Allegations of Russia's Involvement in Georgia's Forest Fires 'Sick Fantasies'

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The allegations of Russia's involvement in forest fires in Georgia are "sick fantasies," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Friday.

On Wednesday, Giorgi Volsky, a member of the Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party's faction, implied in a post on his Facebook page that the forest fire near the south-central town of Borjomi might have been caused by saboteurs from the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, which has close ties with Russia. This followed the detection of bottles containing traces of petrol in the burned forest.

"We sincerely wish our neighbors [Georgia] to manage bringing the fire under control. And we believe that it is unnecessary to comment on the sick fantasies of those who consider a disaster in their own country as an excuse for anti-Russia insinuations," Zakharova said in response to a reporter's question on allegations Russia was involved in the fire.

Zakharova indicated that Russia had immediately responded to Georgia's request for assistance in extinguishing the fire in the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park. Russia decided to send a Il-76 strategic airlifter from the Russian Ministry for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters to help Georgian firefighters. However, Georgia subsequently refused the assistance from Moscow, saying that the fire had been contained.

The Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park has already been ablaze for six days. A few hundred firefighters and rescue workers from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Turkey have been deployed to put out the fire.