Georgia says it fired at Russian plane this week

By Niko Mchedlishvili

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian forces fired at a plane they believed was Russian after it violated the Caucasus republic's airspace on Wednesday, a senior interior ministry official said.

The incident marks an intensification of a row between the two countries in which Georgia has accused Russian planes of violating its border and of dropping a missile near Tbilisi.

Russia called the Georgian statement a provocation. It has not reported any plane missing, and when asked specifically about the Georgian statement an official denied Russian aircraft had violated Georgian airspace.

"The day before yesterday at 22:24 in the mountains of Upper Abkhazia we opened fire on a Russian plane, after which we heard an explosion," Shota Utiashvili, head of the interior ministry's analytical department, told Reuters on Friday.

It was not clear what caused that explosion.

"The forest is on fire there, but we cannot confirm that the plane was shot down," Utiashvili said, adding that the interior ministry would send a helicopter to the area on Saturday to investigate.

Utiashvili could not say what kind of airplane it was, but insisted it was Russian. He said that it had headed towards a deserted mountain part of the rebel Georgian region of Abkhazia that was held by separatists.

Upper Abkhazia, where Georgia says the shooting incident took place, is a small mountainous part of the breakaway Abkhazia province still controlled by Tbilisi.

Moscow-backed Abkhazia is a regular source of tension between the two countries, as Georgia seeks to regain control over the region.

INTERNATIONAL REPERCUSSIONS

Moscow says its planes have never violated Georgia's border.

"This is another provocation in the information campaign waged against us," Interfax news agency quoted Alexander Drobyshevsky, an aide to Russian airforce commander, as saying.

"I say this officially, Russian airplanes did not violate the Georgian air space."

Interfax also quoted an official from Abkhazia's defense ministry as saying: "We haven't registered recently any downings of any plane at territory controlled by the Abkhaz side."

Georgia said on Wednesday two Russian planes had violated its border around the same area. Two weeks ago it accused Russian jets of dropping a missile near the capital, Tbilisi.