Tuesday, 23 September 2008TBILISI (Reuters) -- Georgia has said it had shot down a Russian reconnaissance drone over Georgian territory just south of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, the first such incident since last month's war.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said he had no information about an aircraft being shot down.
The drone was brought down early on September 22 near the town of Gori, some 30 kilometers from the de facto border with South Ossetia, said Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili.
"It was flying over the territory between the villages of Khurvaleti and Tsitelutani," he said. "We believe it was patrolling the territory where the Baku-Supsa [oil] pipeline runs."
Utiashvili said it was a short-range drone, and suggested it had been launched from Russian positions holding a "security zone" just a few kilometers north of Gori.
The Russian authorities could not confirm whether a drone had been shot down.
"I have no such information. When I have such information I will be able to comment," Aleksandr Drobyshevsky, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's press service, told Reuters.
Russian forces continue to hold positions inside undisputed Georgian territory after they repelled a Georgian assault in early August to retake South Ossetia from pro-Moscow separatists.
Under the terms of a French-brokered pullback deal, Russian forces are due to withdraw from the "security zones" adjacent to South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, by October 10.
RFERL
23 September 2008 |
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Georgia & Russia
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