Moscow denies report claims that it is giving military aid to Abkhazia, a separatist Black Sea region
A UN report concluded that the Russian air force had shot down an unmanned Georgian spy drone over the breakaway region of Abkhazia.__
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.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/27/russia.georgia
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A UN report concluded that the Russian air force had shot down an unmanned Georgian spy drone over the breakaway region of Abkhazia.__
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.