The Unrecognized Flying Object
Georgia on Saturday sent its taskforce to Kodori Gorge to probe into the crash of Russia's jet, which was short down there on August 22. The crash of some aircraft was acknowledged by unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia, while Moscow claims its planes didn’t near the Georgian borders that day.
It was Rustavi-2 TV Channel of Georgia that first reported the aircraft crash in Kodori Gorge. A Russian jet that trespassed in the airspace of Georgia was attacked by fire in Upper Abkhazia, Shota Utiashvili from Georgian Interior Ministry told Reuters the same day.
Airspace of Georgia was violated on August 20, 21 and 22 in the upper part of Kodori Gorge in section of Karachaevo-Cherkess Region, Shota Khizanishvili, chief of Georgia’s Interior Ministry’s administration, announced Saturday.
Georgian Interior Ministry sent the taskforce to the supposed place of the crash same Saturday.
Moscow has been denying the involvement since the very beginning. “I say again, the jets of Russia’s Air Force haven’t violated airspace of Georgia. All jets of the RF Air Force were at the aerodromes and made no flights in the region,” said the RF Air Force Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky, calling the statements of Georgia “another provocation targeted against Russia.”
According to Moscow-backed Abkhazia, on which soil the unrecognized flying object actually fell, the aircraft of Georgia, not of Russia fell there. Abkhazia’s observers spotted an aircraft on August 22, at 9:45 p.m. It crossed the coastal line, flew away to Marukhsk pass (the upper side of Kodori Gorge), and the explosion was heard in two minutes, said Abkhazia’s Interior Minister Sergey Shamba. As Russia denies any flights in the region, it was probably the jet of Georgia that crashed there, Shamba concluded.
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All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 27, 2007
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