Georgia Wants Compensation, Apologies for Drone Downing
The Georgian Foreign Ministry summoned Russian ambassador, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, on May 27, after UN observers confirmed the Georgian drone was downed on April 20 by a fighter jet, which “belonged to the Russian air force.”
“I do not question professionalism of those people who worked over this [UNOMIG] report [over the incident] from UNOMIG, but evidence itself, which was studied by those people, is questionable,” Kovalenko said after meeting with Grigol Vashadze, the Georgian deputy foreign minister.
He said that evidence, involving Georgian air radar data and video footage transmitted from the drone’s on-board camera before it was shot down, was questionable.
UNOMIG investigation, however, concluded that both the footage and air radar data were “authentic.”
The Georgian Foreign Ministry said Tbilisi “categorically demands from the Russian Federation to make an official apology for the act of aggression directed against Georgia, ensure appropriate compensation for the material loss.”
It also again demanded an international inspection of the Gudauta military base in breakaway Abkhazia. Georgia has claimed that the Russian fighter jet which shot down the reconnaissance drone, took off from the Gudauta base.
Although UNOMIG investigation confirmed that after the attack the Russian jet flew back to the Russian Federation, it also said it was not possible to find out from where did it took off.