Georgia’s Security Service denies shooting down flying object of occupied Tskhinvali
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, September 2
Georgia’s State Security Service (SSS) denies released information by breakaway South Ossetia (Tskhinvali) that their flying machine was shot down by the Georgian police officers.
The SSS says that on September 1 of the current year, in the Kareli municipality, near the village of Abano, remote flying object, a so-called quadcopter that belonged to the occupation forces crashed into the quadcopter of a civilian, as a result of which, both flying objects were damaged.
According to the agency, a hotline has been activated in connection with the incident and the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) was also notified.
“It should be emphasized that the central government of Georgia is constructive and pays great attention to maintaining a stable environment,” the statement reads.
Ekaterina Biazrova, de facto Head of the Press Service of the State Security Committee of Occupied South Ossetia stated that a quadcopter of the South Ossetian side was shot down by Georgian law enforcers on Sunday.
She said that before, similar Georgian aircraft had "repeatedly been conducting day-to-day intelligence across the state border and over civilian facilities guarded by the South Ossetian and Russian border guards."
"In addition, we declare that shooting down our flying object is a direct provocation from the Georgian side," the de facto committee said.
Leader of the anti-occupation movement 'Unity in Power', David Katsarava, wrote on Facebook that his group had shot down an Ossetian flying machine.
“Today, the Russian drone crossed the occupation line and started flying in our controlled airspace. Our group has been able to neutralize this drone and it has crashed into our area. Soon after this, the Russians panicked, our police came and seized the flying machine, shot down by us,” Katsarava wrote on his Facebook page.
South Ossetia, along with another region Abkhazia, is controlled by Russia since the August 2008 war, which left 20% of Georgian territories occupied by Russia.
