GEORGIA: Leader of breakaway Abkhazia confirms their air force shot down Georgian spy drone flying over region

Record ID: 184824

  • Title: GEORGIA: Leader of breakaway Abkhazia confirms their air force shot down Georgian spy drone flying over region
  • Date: 24th April 2008
  • Summary: EXTERIOR OF ABKHAZIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY
  • Embargoed: 9th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA9LH0MPMU22CNC4549OW2XTSSB
  • Story Text: The leader of Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia said on Tuesday (April 22) that the Abkhaz air force had downed an unmanned Georgian drone and that Russian fighters had nothing to do with the incident.
    Speaking at a news conference, Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh said he did not credit Georgian video footage of Russian fighters shooting the plane down.
    "For more than a day Georgia was claiming it was not their plane, and it had nothing to do with this plane. But after the wreckage of the aircraft was found and we had evidence, Georgia made statements that there was video equipment installed on board the plane and they had footage of a Russian fighter shooting down the aircraft," he said.
    "The spy drone was shot down by the Abkhaz antiaircraft artillery and by our airforce. Russia has nothing to do with this incident. And whatever Georgia had was edited by Georgia, and we all know they are very skilful in all kinds of insinuations," he added.
    Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili accused Russia on Monday (April 21) of downing a reconnaissance plane over one of its breakaway territories in an "unprovoked act of aggression."
    Moscow said the allegation was nonsense and that the Georgian flight over the breakaway region of Abkhazia had actually breached United Nations ceasefire agreements.
    In Abkhazia on Tuesday, the wreckage of the drone was presented to media and UN peacekeepers.
    "We do not need any help from Russia's airforce. We are capable of detecting aircraft, and if required to use force and shoot them down,"
    said Abkhazia's First Deputy Defence Minister Zakan Nanba.
    A 1994 Moscow agreement says that parties should scrupulously observe a cease-fire on land, sea and in the air, and "refrain from all military actions against each other." It was unclear whether the drone flight constituted a military action.
    The U.N. Security Council will hold a special meeting this week to discuss the dispute between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway regions, which have soured relations for over a decade.
    A U.N. mission was established in the region in 1993 to observe the ceasefire agreement with Abkhazia, a sliver of land high up in the Caucasus mountains.
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