Tbilisi accused Russia of violating its airspace and dropping a missile at its radar near the border with breakaway South Ossetia. The missile did not explode. Russia has denied the charges as a provocation to disrupt peace efforts in the conflict zone, where it deploys peacekeepers.
"An unidentified aircraft violated [Georgian] airspace three times from Russian territory. The three violations were made by one plane," the ministry said referring to the commission comprising experts from Sweden, the U.S., Latvia and Lithuania, which is investigating the incident.
The ministry said, citing the findings, that the aircraft stayed in Georgian airspace for one minute and 11 minutes at 2:13-2:24 p.m., 2:31-2:42 p.m. CET (1:13-1:24 p.m., 1:31-1:42 p.m. GMT), and advanced deep into Georgian territory on the last occasion.
"The experts' conclusion confirmed Georgia's findings," said official Foreign Ministry spokesman David Dondua.
Russia's top military officials earlier denied any flights in the area at the said time. And Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone said the aircraft had come from Georgia and returned there.
The commander of the mixed contingent in the area, Marat Kulakhmetov, said earlier Tbilisi had denied the peacekeepers' reports of an unidentified plane in the area 14 hours before bringing up the accusation against Russia.
Kulakhmetov also said peacekeepers were unable to identify the missile as Georgians had rushed to destroy it.
Russian experts are to join the investigation in Georgia Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported earlier Wednesday.
