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Georgian spy planes downed: Abkhazia

SUKHUMI (Georgia): An official of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia said its forces shot down two unmanned Georgian spy planes over the territory on Sunday. Georgia denied the claim, which was certain to increase tension in a country at the centre of a struggle for influence between Russia and the West.

Strained relations between Georgia and Russia, which has close ties to Abkhazia, have worsened since a similar incident two weeks ago. Georgia accused Moscow of shooting down a pilotless Georgian reconnaissance plane over Abkhazia. Russia denied involvement, and Abkhazian officials said their forces shot it down. Russia has bristled at NATO’s eastward expansion, and top officials have drawn a line in the sand around Georgia and Ukraine, saying they will do their best to keep the Western-leaning ex-Soviet republics out of the alliance. —AP

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