Russia's Lavrov calls on Georgia to hand over plane evidence
Moscow/Copenhagen - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Tuesday on Georgia to hand over footage from a Georgian spy plane that the post-Soviet state says proves a Russian fighter jet, not Georgian rebels, was guilty of shooting down April 20.
"What Russian experts could catch of the film when it was shown on Georgian TV, raises serious questions," Lavrov was quoted as saying at a conference with EU counterparts, Interfax news agency reported from Denmark.
"We have asked to be shown the film and to be allowed an investigation ... Questions to which there is no answer point to a discrepancy in the film," the minister added.
A UN report Monday cited the video in supporting Georgia's claim that a Russian warplane shot down the drone.
The footage shows "distinctive twin-fin tail markings" of a Russian aircraft "without any manipulation or cut-outs or copy/paste actions," the report posted on the website of the UN's mission to Georgia said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry maintains the video was fabricated, and accused Georgia of breaking a UN ceasefire agreement by undertaking reconnaissance flights over its breakaway region of Abkhazia, which has been occupied by Russian peacekeepers since 1994. (dpa)