The authority of Georgia's breakaway region Abkhazia said it had shot down a Georgian reconnaissance aircraft on Sunday, according to reports reaching here.
"Abkhaz air defense units destroyed a Georgian reconnaissance drone over the Gali district at 9:57 a.m., Moscow time (0657 GMT) on Sunday," Russia's Itar-Tass and Interfax quoted Sergei Bagapsh,leader of the self-claimed state, as saying.
Georgia's Defense Ministry, however, denied the allegation.
"These allegations are of absurd nature. This is not the first case over the past years when the Abkhazian side circulates such misinformation," Itar-Tass cited a spokesman of the ministry as saying.
Georgian planes "do not make flights over the territory of the Abkhazian region, and, therefore, statements that a Georgian drone was downed there, are misinformation and are of propaganda nature," he said.
Russia's ties with Georgia became strained after Putin ordered the government last Wednesday to provide more substantive aid for people in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Source:Xinhua
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