Abkhazia Says Tbilisi Is Spying

The Moscow Times -- Abkhazia accused Georgia on Wednesday of resuming spy-plane flights in preparation for an attack on the breakaway region, a charge Tbilisi denied.

A five-day war last year — when Russia crushed a Georgian assault on pro-Russian South Ossetia — was preceded by Georgian drone flights over South Ossetia and Abkhazia and by Russian jets entering Georgian airspace.

Abkhaz authorities said two unmanned drones entered from the Georgian side of the de facto border late Tuesday and flew over the Gal(i) region of eastern Abkhazia.

“What we see is that Georgia is again preparing for war,” Abkhaz official Maxim Gvindzhia said. “They have a clear practice of using [drone] pictures for military purposes.”

Georgia said any drone flights would have been Russian-operated. “No Georgian drones flew over Abkhazia or South Ossetian territories, so we categorically deny these accusations,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili.