MOSCOW—Russia on Tuesday hit back at Georgia over the shooting down of a spy drone saying the unmanned Georgian flight over the breakaway region of Abkhazia breached United Nations ceasefire agreements.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said the drone had been shot down by separatist forces in Abkhazia. The Russian air force denied Georgian claims a Russian fighter had downed the craft.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Monday clashed publicly with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the incident, just two weeks after NATO promised the small Caucasus state it would one day become a member of the military alliance.
Russia, opposed to NATO expansion closer to its borders, said last week it was forging closer ties with Georgia's two breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Tbilisi lost control over the areas after separatist wars in the 1990s.
"This flight by the reconnaissance plane, which can also be used for guiding fire, is a violation of both the Moscow ceasefire and force separation agreement of May 14, 1994, and a corresponding resolution of the United Nations Security Council regarding the mandate of the U.N. observation mission in Georgia," the ministry said.
The 1994 Moscow agreement says parties should scrupulously observe the cease-fire on land, sea and in the air, and "refrain from all military actions against each other."
It was unclear whether the drone flight constituted a military action.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was not the first time drones had been used in the region.
"No one should be flying there above this conflict zone which is defined by the Moscow agreement," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
The U.N. Security Council will hold a special meeting this week to discuss the dispute between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway regions, which have soured relations for over a decade.
A U.N. mission was established in the region in 1993 to observe the ceasefire agreement with Abkhazia, a sliver of land high up in the Caucasus mountains.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the drone flight took place on Sunday morning but the Georgian Interior Ministry only informed the United Nations mission about it on Sunday evening.
"Therefore the flight was an unsanctioned military action," the ministry said in a statement.
Georgia has accused Moscow of a de facto annexation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia after Putin ordered his government to establish closer ties with the separatists in both regions.
Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Georgy Baramidze said on Tuesday Moscow's attempt to forge closer ties with the regions was "a serious threat to stability in Europe" and a challenge to the West.
"What will determine Russian policy towards Georgia (to) a great extent is the reaction of the West ... telling Russia that they shouldn't cross the red line, which they did now," Baramidze told Reuters in an interview in London.
Abkhazia is internationally recognised as part of Georgia, but the region is supported by Russia, the biggest investor in the area.
Most of its population, who are ethnically distinct from Georgians, say they were forcibly absorbed into Georgia under Soviet rule and want to exercise their right to self-determination.
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