MIA: Russian Drone Crashes in Georgia

An unmanned Russian aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed near the village of Odzisi in the Akhalgori district at 5 p.m. on September 30, the Georgian Interior Ministry (MIA) reported on October 1.

Shota Utiashvili, an MIA spokesman, told Civil.Ge that the drone, which was conducting reconnaissance of Georgian positions, crashed due to technical problems. 

“We didn’t down this drone.  It crashed itself and Georgian police noticed it,” he said.

Utiashvili said the drone was equipped with a photo camera.

The Russian side, however, has not confirmed the incident.

“I cannot confirm this report,” Vitaly Manushko, a Russian peacekeeper spokesman, told Interfax news agency on October 1.

Earlier on September 22 the Georgian Interior Ministry said that a Russian UAV was shot down over territory between the villages of Khurvaleti and Tsitelubani near breakaway South Ossetia. Russia, however, denied it had lost a drone over Georgia.

The Interior Ministry said the Russian drone was presumably conducting reconnaissance of the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline.

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