EX-SOVIET Georgia last night accused Russia of downing an unmanned Georgian reconnaissance plane over one of its breakaway territories in an "unprovoked act of aggression", but Moscow said the allegation was nonsense.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to protest at "these aggressive attacks on Georgia", and Putin accused Georgia of "escalating tension" in a "conflict zone".
Officials in Tbilisi released video foo
tage that they said came from the drone's on-board camera. They said it showed a Russian military MiG-29 jet launching a missile at the drone as it flew over Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region.
The allegation aggravated tensions between Georgia and its former imperial master, who are already at loggerheads over Georgia's ambitions to join NATO and Russia's support for some separatist regions of Georgia.
Saakashvili went on national television to say he had telephoned Putin and "categorically demanded ... that these aggressive attacks on Georgia be stopped immediately".
But Putin hit back by accusing Georgia of whipping up tension.
"Vladimir Putin expressed his bewilderment (at) the very fact of Georgia making flights with military purposes over the conflict zone and stressed ... this is a destabilising factor escalating tension," the Kremlin said.
A spokesman for Russia's air force, when asked about the Georgian allegation, said: "Nonsense. What would a Russian jet fighter be doing over Georgian territory?"
The video footage showed a jet aircraft banking to face the drone. A bright flash could be seen as a missile was launched and headed toward the drone. A few seconds later the screen went blank. No identification markings were visible on the aircraft that fired the missile.
