Georgia Denies Abkhaz Claims on Drone Flights

Authorities in breakaway Abkhazia claimed on July 8, that Tbilisi resumed flights of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over Abkhazia – the allegation denied by Tbilisi as “a provocation.”

Foreign Ministry of the breakaway region said in a statement that two Georgian reconnaissance drones were observed over the village of Saberio in the Gali district flying deeper into the Abkhaz territory at 10pm local time on July 7. It also said that about 35 minutes later the two drones were observed over the village of Khukhun of Tkvarcheli district, the Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported.

The breakaway region’s Foreign Ministry said that it was “seriously concerned with the resumption of provocative actions by Georgia, which may lead to a new escalation of the conflict.”

Shota Utiashvili, a head of the information and analytical department at the Georgian Interior Ministry, said the allegation was “a provocation.”

“Russian unmanned aerial vehicles usually fly across the Abkhaz administrative border line,” he told Civil.Ge.

The Abkhaz side also said that “absence of adequate reaction” from EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia about alleged resumption of drone flights, triggered “doubts about EUMM’s impartiality.”

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