Russians Deny Assassination Plot

The latest—and perhaps most bizarre—chapter in the Russian-Georgian conflict: Russian ministers today denied reports of a shooting incident involving two heads of state. The Georgian government had said that, on Saturday, Georgia’s Mikheil Saakashvili and Poland’s Lech Kaczynski were in a motorcade near South Ossetia when shots rang out. The government said they came from “Russian-controlled territory” in South Ossetia. "This is a real provocation," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov fired back today. "It is not the first time that such things have happened: First they mastermind everything themselves and then accuse the Russian or the Ossetian side." Russia’s deputy foreign minister called the charges “wishful thinking.” No injuries were reported.