TBILISI—Georgia on Monday accused Russia of shooting down an unmanned Georgian reconnaissance plane in an "act of international aggression", but Moscow hit back by saying Georgia was deliberately fanning tensions.
The crisis between the ex-Soviet neighbours came two weeks after NATO promised Georgia it would one day be allowed to become a member, angering Moscow, which is fiercely opposed to the alliance drawing closer to its borders.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said he had had a heated telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after Tbilisi released video footage that it said showed a Russian MiG-29 fighter shooting down the drone.
Georgian officials said the incident happened over Abkhazia, a breakaway Georgian territory on the Black Sea coast that is a constant source of friction between Tbilisi and Moscow.
"This is an act of international aggression. This is bombardment of a sovereign state by another state without any provocation or legal basis," Saakashvili, a U.S.-educated lawyer, said on national television after talking to Putin.
Georgia stepped up a war of words with Russia on Monday, accusing Moscow of committing an act of aggression against it by shooting down a Georgian unmanned spy plane over the Caucasus nation's rebel Abkhazia region. Moscow said the allegation was nonsense. Here are some facts about the breakaway region of Abkhazia:
* A Black Sea enclave bordering Russia, Abkhazia was once the favourite holiday destination of the Soviet Union's elite. * Abkhazia, like fellow rebel republic South Ossetia, refuses to recognise Georgian central rule and fought a war in the early 1990s to establish de facto independence. The 1992-93 conflict killed 10,000 people and displaced 250,000 civilians before Georgian troops were forced out.
* Its population is estimated to be around 200,000, although the exact figure is not known. It has the trappings of statehood with its own flag, postage stamps and a "foreign ministry", but is not internationally recognised.
* On coming to power in Jan. 2004 after a bloodless revolution, pro-Western Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili vowed to make reuniting the country his top priority.
* Tbilisi accuses Russia of backing the separatist regime. A vast majority of residents in Abkhazia have been issued with Russian passports and most trade is with Russia. Separatist Abkhaz leaders say they want eventually to join Russia.
* The majority of people in Abkhazia are ethnically distinct from Georgians. They say they were forcibly absorbed into Georgia under Soviet rule and now want to exercise their right to self-determination.
* Abkhazia and South Ossetia believe Kosovo's independence from Serbia in February created a precedent for them to be recognised universally as independent states. * In March 2008 Russia dropped formal restrictions on trade with Abkhazia, in what some commentators saw as a move linked to Kosovo's declaration of independence. Georgia hit back, accusing Russia of "encouraging separatism".
* Last week Putin ordered the government to establish legal links with Abkhazia and Ossetia, a move Tbilisi said was "creeping annexation" of its land by Moscow.
* Russia keeps hundreds of its peacekeepers in Abkhazia. Tbilisi complains the Russian troops are effectively propping up the separatist regimes. Moscow says they are all that is preventing more bloodshed.
* Saakashvili proposes a peace deal under which South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be given "a large degree of autonomy" within a federal state. The separatist leaderships say they want full independence.
Russia's air force dismissed the allegations over the drone as "nonsense".
Putin later went on the attack, saying through his Kremlin press service that he had told Saakashvili of his "bewilderment" that Georgia was sending drones over Abkhazia.
"This is a destabilising factor escalating tension," the Kremlin statement said.
Tussle
Georgia, a state of about 5 million people in the Caucasus mountains, has become the focus for a broader tussle between Russia and the West for influence in the region, a transit route for oil from the Caspian Sea.
Abkhazia is internationally recognised as part of Georgia but, since a war in the 1990s, it has been run by separatists with backing from Moscow.
Most of its population are ethnically distinct from Georgians. They say they were forcibly absorbed into Georgia under Soviet rule and want to exercise their right to self-determination. Most of the residents have been issued with Russian passports, and most of their trade is with Russia.
Tbilisi last week accused Moscow of a de facto annexation of Abkhazia and a second breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia, after Putin ordered his government to establish closer ties with the separatists in both regions.
In Washington, officials said they were seeking clarification from Russia over what had happened. "At the moment it looks pretty clear that what the Georgians are saying is true," said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"But I do think that, before we add anything further on this, we want to give the Russians a chance to try and explain to us their version of events here."
In New York, the U.N. Security Council was discussing a week-old Georgian request for a special meeting on Russian actions in the region.
Monday's crisis began when Georgia's air force released video footage which it said had been taken by the reconnaissance plane's on-board camera moments before it was shot down.
The footage, supplied to Reuters, showed a jet aircraft launching a missile toward the drone. A few seconds later the screen went blank. No identification markings were visible on the aircraft that fired the missile.
"The MiG-29 has a distinctive twin-tail marking. It's a Russian aircraft. Georgia does not possess it, nor do Abkhaz separatists," Colonel David Nairashvili, commander of Georgia's air force, told Reuters.
Abkhazia's separatist administration had said on Sunday that its forces had shot down the drone because it was violating Abkhaz air space.
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