CNN: MOSCOW, Russia (AP) — The United Nations observer mission in Georgia on Monday concluded that the plane that shot down an unmanned Georgian reconnaissance aircraft last month belonged to the Russian military.
The shooting down of the spy drone provoked anti-Russian protests in Georgia in April.
The report is likely to aggravate tensions between the two nations that have soared in the past two months over Russia's support for the separatist province of Abkhazia and Georgia's drive to join NATO.
The reconnaissance drone was shot down over Abkhazia on April 20. A video taken by the pilotless aircraft shows a fighter jet firing a missile in its direction.
Abkhazia's separatist government claimed the drone was shot down by one of its L-39 jets. However, the plane in the video had a distinctive twin-finned tail, and the report concluded it was either a Russian-made MiG-29 or Su-27 — neither of which Abkhazia possesses.
Russia denied Georgian allegations of the shootdown. But the report of the U.N. Observer Mission in Georgia said radar tracking shows that after the missile was fired, the plane headed into Russian airspace.
"Absent compelling evidence, this leads to the conclusion that the aircraft belonged to the Russian air force," the report said.
Russian Defense Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the observers' report.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Monday that "Georgia for the first time has confirmation from the U.N. that Russia has committed an act of aggression against Georgia," the Interfax news agency reported.
"All of this demands a tough reaction by the international community," he was quoted as saying.
Georgia calls for UN probe of Abkhazia air defences
TBILISI (Thomson Financial) – Georgia on Monday called for the United Nations to probe the use of anti-aircraft weapons in its rebel region of Abkhazia, which on Sunday claimed to have downed two Georgian spy drones.
Georgia, which has accused Russia of providing weapons to Abkhaz separatists, denied the planes were shot down.
But its foreign ministry urged the United Nations 'to immediately institute an investigation regarding the presence and utilisation of 'air defence systems' by the Abkhaz separatists in the security zone and to inform the international community about the results'.
A ministry statement described reports that the planes were shot down as 'misinformation' and 'another provocation… aimed at facilitating Russia's military intervention by providing information and propaganda support'.
Abkhazia, a Moscow-backed province that broke away from Georgian control during a war in the early 1990s, claimed on Sunday to have downed two unmanned Georgian reconnaissance plane, two weeks after a similar incident hiked tensions in the region.
Georgia has alleged that a Russian MiG-29 had downed a Georgian spy plane on April 20 in an incident Tbilisi described as 'an act of aggression.'
U.N. says Russia shot down Georgian spy plane
TBILISI: The United Nations said on Monday that a Russian air force plane shot down an unmanned Georgian spy drone over Abkhazia last month, strengthening Tbilisi's claims that Moscow is aiding the rebel territory.
A U.N. report compiled from video footage, witness statements and radar records was the weightiest independent endorsement to date of Tbilisi's allegation — denied by Moscow — that a Russian jet downed its spy plane on April 20.
Russia denies its shooting Georgian scout plane
Russia denies the UN’s claim about Russia’s shooting down a Georgian pilotless scout plane over Abkhazia on 20 April 2008, Russian media reports.
The UN report says that UN radars registered that the plane which looked like Mig-27 shot down the Georgian pilotless scout plane over Abkhazia and then went to the Russia’s territory.
The report refers to a video made by the board camera of the shot Georgian plane, and claims that as there is no denial to the fact from the Russia’s side, the plane can be considered as Russia’s.
Abkhazia side states that the video is falsified.
Russian air forces have denied its involvement to the case, assuring that that Georgian plane was shot by Abkhazia.
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