Russia denies accusation by Georgia over 'unprovoked' downing of aircraft

GEORGIA: Ex-Soviet Georgia yesterday accused Russia of downing an unmanned Georgian reconnaissance aircraft over one of its breakaway territories in an "unprovoked act of aggression", but Moscow said the allegation was nonsense.

Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili telephoned Russian president Vladimir Putin to protest at "these aggressive attacks on Georgia", and Mr Putin accused Georgia of "escalating tension" in a "conflict zone".

Officials in Tbilisi released video footage they said came from the drone's onboard camera. They said it showed a Russian military MiG-29 jet launching a missile at the drone as it flew over Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region.

The allegation aggravated tensions between Georgia and its former imperial master, who are already at loggerheads over Georgia's ambitions to join Nato and Russia's support for separatist regions of Georgia.

Mr Saakashvili went on national television to say he had telephoned Mr Putin and "categorically demanded ... that these aggressive attacks on Georgia be stopped immediately". But Mr Putin hit back by accusing Georgia of whipping up tension.

"Vladimir Putin expressed his bewilderment the very fact of Georgia making flights with military purposes over the conflict zone and stressed ... this is a destabilising factor escalating tension," the Kremlin said in a statement.

A spokesman for Russia's air force, when asked about the Georgian allegation, said: "Nonsense. What would a Russian jet fighter be doing over Georgian territory?"

The video footage supplied to Reuters by Georgia's air force showed a jet aircraft with no visible identification markings banking to face the drone. A bright flash could be seen as a missile was launched and headed toward the drone. Seconds later the screen went blank.

"On April 20th, a Russian MiG-29 fighter jet shot down an unarmed, unmanned air vehicle which was performing basic reconnaissance over Georgian territory," Col David Nairashvili, commander of Georgia's air force, said. "It's absolutely illegal for a Russian MiG-29 to be there ... The MiG-29 has a distinctive twin-tail marking. It's a Russian aircraft. Georgia does not possess it, nor do Abkhaz separatists."

Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast, is internationally recognised as part of Georgia. It has been controlled by Moscow-backed separatists since a war in the early 1990s.

Abkhazia's separatist administration said on Sunday its own forces had shot down the drone because it was violating Abkhaz air space and breaching ceasefire agreements.

Georgia's pro-western government is sensitive about any Russian involvement in the region. Tbilisi last week accused Moscow of a de facto annexation of Abkhazia and a second breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia, after Mr Putin ordered his government to establish closer ties with the separatists in both regions. Nato, which has angered Russia by telling Georgia it will one day become an alliance member, urged Mr Putin to revoke his order for closer ties.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said yesterday the United States was concerned by reports of the latest incident and was seeking information from the Russian government.

- (Reuters)

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times