Georgia's Interior Ministry troops patrol the Kodori Gorge, near Abkhazia May 2, 2008.
Photo: Reuters
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Two Shot-Down Drones Loomed to Abkhazia
Two drones of Georgia loomed to Abkhazia, said Georgia’s Defense Minister David Kezerashvili, RIA Novosti reported.
According to authorities of unrecognized Abkhazia, their missile defense system shot down two spy drones of Georgia Sunday. It was disinformation, Georgia’s Foreign Ministry rebuffed.
It’s totally ludicrous. No drones flew either above Ochamchir or Gali that day, Kezerashvili told Russian journalists Thursday.
Abkhazia is Georgia’s territory, the minister went on, specifying that they may fly in its airspace just as in the airspace of any other region of Georgia. But the drones loomed to them that day, Kezerashvili pointed out.
Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia after the collapse of the USSR. Georgia brought forces there in August 1992 but only to face the military opposition. The combat conflict that stripped Georgia of control over Abkhazia ended August 30, 1993 and Abkhazia has been seeking the independence recognition ever since.
Tbilisi, however, views Abkhazia as an integral part and proposes the status of autonomy to it. Russia’s peacekeepers ensure peace in that conflict area and Moscow widened their contingent to 2,500 in May due to the general aggravation of the situation there.
www.kommersant.com
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