U.S. ‘Very Concerned’ over Russo-Georgian Tensions

The U.S. State Department official said Washington was still seeking information from Moscow and coordinating closely with Tbilisi to have a clearer picture of the incident with downed Georgian drone over Abkhazia.

Speaking at a news briefing Tom Casey, deputy spokesman for the Department of State, said that the U.S. was “very concerned.” “There have been a number of provocative incidents that have occurred in the past. We would hate to see a repeat of that or anything that would be increasing tensions between two neighbors,” he said.

Georgia has blamed Russia’s fighter jet, MIG-29, for downing its unmanned spy plane and released a video footage transmitted from the drone’s on-born camera showing twin-tail jet firing a missile at the drone. Georgia has also claimed that MIG-29 took off from the military base in Gudauta in breakaway Abkhazia and flew away into the Russian Federation after shooting down the Georgian drone.

When asked whether the incident took place as the Georgians were describing it, the U.S. Department of State deputy spokesman responded: “I think there are a lot of open questions about that. Again, we’ve been coordinating closely with the Georgian Government and we are seeking information from the Russians to try and give us a clearer assessment of whether that, in fact, is true or not.”

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