Agence France-Presse,
MOSCOW: Russia's foreign ministry on Tuesday said that Abkhaz rebels were responsible for shooting down a Georgian unmanned spy plane over the weekend.
“It was shot down by Abkhaz anti-aircraft weapons,” the ministry said in a statement issued in response to Georgia's accusation that a Russian fighter airplane destroyed the drone on Sunday.
The statement said that the drone's flight “was a violation” of a 1994 peace agreement ending the fighting in the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia.
Wreckage showed that the drone was an Israeli-made Hermes 450, the statement said.
“According to the Russian Defence Ministry and Abkhaz authorities, the Georgian spy plane entered the security zone from the direction of Gali,” which is the main town in the south of Abkhazia, the statement said.
The drone then flew over a port town and was trying to return when it was shot down, the statement said.
Georgia says that a Russian MiG-29 fighter jet shot down the drone. Russian air force chief General Alexander Zelin however told RIA Novosti news agency that “the Russian air force has nothing to do with this. That's not our business.”
