Documents / Official release
This U.S. Embassy Moscow cable to the State Department is dated October 30, 2001 and signed by Ambassador Vershbow. It reports Russian Foreign Ministry denials that Russian planes flew over or bombed the Kodori Gorge in Georgia on October 28 and 29. A ministry official said reports of planes might as well have been about "UFOs." The cable also covers equipment withdrawals from the Gudauta base. The embassy's comment calls the UFO suggestion a bold lie meant to avoid an awkward admission.
From the source:Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: 10/28/2001-10/29/2001, Georgia. On October 28-29, there was an incident alleged by the Georgian Foreign Ministry that Russian aircraft had violated Georgian airspace and bombed areas of the Kodori Gorge. Russians denied any of the claims and said that it could have been UFOs. Cable authors note that Russians typically engage in the “bold lie” when they wish to conceal actions.
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 5 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.