DesertFox
08-24-2007, 08:48 PM
TBILISI - Georgian forces fired at a plane they believed was Russian after it violated the Caucasus republic's airspace on Wednesday, a senior interior ministry official said.
The incident marks an intensification of a row between the two countries in which Georgia has accused Russian planes of violating its border and of dropping a missile near Tbilisi.
Russia called the Georgian statement a provocation. It has not reported any plane missing, and when asked specifically about the Georgian statement an official denied Russian aircraft had violated Georgian airspace.
"The day before yesterday at 22:24 in the mountains of Upper Abkhazia we opened fire on a Russian plane, after which we heard an explosion," Shota Utiashvili, head of the interior ministry's analytical department, told Reuters on Friday.
More (http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Georgia_says_it_fired_at_Russian_plane.html?siteSe ct=143&sid=8137930&cKey=1187978852000&ty=ti)
The incident marks an intensification of a row between the two countries in which Georgia has accused Russian planes of violating its border and of dropping a missile near Tbilisi.
Russia called the Georgian statement a provocation. It has not reported any plane missing, and when asked specifically about the Georgian statement an official denied Russian aircraft had violated Georgian airspace.
"The day before yesterday at 22:24 in the mountains of Upper Abkhazia we opened fire on a Russian plane, after which we heard an explosion," Shota Utiashvili, head of the interior ministry's analytical department, told Reuters on Friday.
More (http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Georgia_says_it_fired_at_Russian_plane.html?siteSe ct=143&sid=8137930&cKey=1187978852000&ty=ti)