Moscow has rejected fresh accusations from Georgia that a Russian plane violated its airspace, Itar-Tass news agency reported, citing the Russian Air Force, according to dpa. Georgia claims the incident took place Tuesday evening and that it fired on the aircraft causing it to crash on the border with the breakaway region of Abkhazia, a claim that could not be confirmed. A spokesman for the Russian Air Force rejected the claims, saying there were no Russian planes in the area at the time the incident is believed to have taken place, according to Itar-Tass. The Georgian Interior Ministry sent an investigation commission to the area Saturday. Residents had reported the crash Friday to Georgia's Rustavi2 television. Bad weather meant that the suspected crash site in Kodori valley could not be reached, but a fire could be seen in the valley which is split between Georgian and Abkhazian control according to a ceasefire agreement in the civil war between the two sides. Just a few days ago, Georgia accused neighbouring Russia of violating its airspace in the same region near the Abkhazian border. Tbilisi accused Moscow on Tuesday of flying a craft at 490 kilometres per hour at 4,000 metres over Georgian airspace for the second time this month. The two sides have been sparring for weeks over an anti-radar missile that hit near the breakaway region of South Ossetia on August 6.
