Rebels 'hit two Georgian drones'

[[R_H]]

BBC

Separatist forces in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia say they have shot down two Georgian spy drones, Russian news agencies report.

The alleged attacks come two weeks after a similar incident.

A spokesman for Georgia's interior ministry "categorically" denied that any planes were lost on Sunday as none had been flying in the region.

Russia's support for Abkhazia and another region, South Ossetia, have stoked tensions with Georgia.

Russian and UN peacekeepers have been deployed in both regions since the early 1990s, when they broke free from Georgian control as the USSR disintegrated.

Russia began reinforcing its troops in Abkhazia last month, saying it was acting in line with an existing peace accord and accusing Georgia of preparing to invade Abkhazia.

Nato has accused Russia, in turn, of increasing tension with Georgia whose government aspires to Nato membership.

'No losses'

One drone was shot down over Abkhazia's Ochamchira district, Abkhaz officials told Russian agencies.

According to Itar-Tass, it was downed at 1252 GMT on Sunday.

Agencies later reported that a second drone had been downed and a search was under way for the debris.

Abkhaz official Ruslan Kishmariya said that Abkhaz anti-aircraft weapons had downed both aircraft.

He said that the presence of the drones was evidence that Georgia was preparing for military operations against Abkhazia.

Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP news agency that no Georgian planes had been flying in the region.

"We categorically deny the loss of any Georgian planes," he said.

A statement from Russia's foreign ministry accused Georgia of escalating tension again.

"By resorting to escapades with pilotless spy planes and speeding up military preparations... the Tbilisi authorities have taken the path of deliberately inflaming tension in the region," the statement said.

Abkhazia first reported shooting down a Georgian drone on 18 March, when it showed off wreckage.

The downing of another drone over Abkhazia on 20 April provoked angry exchanges between Tbilisi and Moscow.

Russia said its presence had breached the 1994 peace accord which ended fighting in the region.

It reported that Abkhaz forces had shot down the plane, identified by Abkhazia as an Israeli-made Hermes 450.

Georgia, however, released footage showing what seemed to be a Russian MiG-29 jet shooting that drone down.

The video, apparently shot from the drone moments before impact, showed a jet launching a missile over what appeared to be the Black Sea. Georgia accused Russia of an act of "open aggression".