Tensions rise as UN says Russian air force downed Georgian drone

Tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow increased yesterday after a UN report concluded that the Russian air force had shot down an unmanned Georgian spy drone over the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

The UN's mission in Georgia said a Russian fighter jet had downed the spy plane on April 30 - despite vehement denials by Moscow. Based on video footage, witnesses and radar records, the UN report backs up Georgia's claim that Russia is giving military aid to Abkhazia, a separatist Black Sea region that broke away from Georgia after the 1992-93 war.

But the UN also criticises Tbilisi for violating the terms of a 1994 ceasefire. Georgia has sent at least three spy drones over Abkhazia since March, the report said, despite a ban on surveillance aircraft.

Dramatic video footage from the drone shows a jet fighter swooping into view, before firing a short-range missile. The video then goes blank. The report said the fighter was a MiG-29 or Su-27, types neither of which Abkhazia owns.

The jet then flew off into Russian airspace, the report added. "Absent [of] compelling evidence to the contrary, this leads to the conclusion that the aircraft belonged to the Russian air force," said the report, which was posted on the UN mission in Georgia's website.London Guardian

Russia says UN's Georgia spy plane probe unreliable

Russia said on Tuesday it did not have confidence in a UN probe into Georgia's allegations that a Russian aircraft shot down an unmanned reconnaissance plane last month as it was based on unreliable evidence.

The UN mission in Georgia confirmed in a report on Monday the ex-Soviet state's claims that a reconnaissance drone had been shot down by the Russian Air Force over the breakaway region of Abkhazia on April 20.

"The quality of the enquiries is questionable in general," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "A whole range of conclusions in the UN report raises questions. We do not doubt the UN experts' professionalism, but have no confidence in the evidence provided - video footage and some radar recordings." RIA Novosti