2008 Georgian drone shootdowns

2008 Georgian drone shootdowns
Part of Prelude to the Russian invasion of Georgia
Elbit Hermes 450, the model of the drones shot down over Abkhazia
Location	Gali and Ochamchire districts (Abkhazia)
Objective	Neutralization of Georgia's aerial reconnaissance operations over Abkhazia
Date	March 18, 2008 (2008-03-18) - May 12, 2008 (2008-05-12)
Executed by	Abkhazian Air Force Russian Air Force
Outcome	Shootdown of three to seven Georgian reconnaissance UAVs, end of Georgian drone use over Abkhazia

The 2008 Georgian drone shootdowns refer to a series of military incidents involving Georgian unmanned aerial vehicles brought down over the breakaway republic of Abkhazia between March and May 2008. The skirmishes were part of a larger context of tensions between Georgia and Russia, eventually leading up to the Russo-Georgian War.

Georgia's drone program was developed in 2007 when the Georgian government purchased dozens of unmanned aircraft from the Israeli Elbit Systems, using the drones to fly over Abkhazia and document Russian military movements in the region. In February and March 2008, as Moscow increased its ties with the separatist region, Georgia intensified its drone surveillance program. The first drone shootdown took place allegedly on March 18 over the Gali district.

According to Abkhaz claims, as many as seven Georgian drones were shot down in five different operations between the Gali and Ochamchire districts of Abkhazia. Georgia only admitted to three incidents, including the April 20 shootdown over the village of Gagida. The latter triggered an investigation by the United Nations that revealed the drone was brought down by a Russian military jet.

The UN accused both Georgia and Russia of violating the 1994 Moscow Ceasefire Agreement that had put an end to the Abkhazia War, Georgia by using drones over the conflict zone and Russia by shooting them down, although Tbilisi argued its surveillance program was justified to observe Russia's own militarization of the region. On May 30, Georgia announced an end to its drone program, but that failed to bring down tensions in the subsequent months.

Background

Georgian-Abkhazian conflict

Map of Abkhazia, including the Kodori Gorge.

Though originating in the late 1980s, the conflict between Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia seemingly devolved following the 2006 Kodori Crisis, when the Georgian central government reestablished its control over the warlord-held Kodori Gorge in northeastern Abkhazia, leading to accusations by separatist Abkhaz forces of a Georgian militarization of the region. Tensions escalated in September 2007 with the Bokhundjara incident, when a clash between Abkhaz troops and Georgian police caused the death of two Russian military advisers working with the separatists.

Mikheil Saakashvili, the staunchly pro-Western President of Georgia in office since the 2003 Rose Revolution, is inaugurated for a second term on January 20, 2008, promising during his inauguration speech the "peaceful reintegration of Abkhazia and South Ossetia into Georgia," a pledge that comes after a campaign promise to return to Abkhazia Georgian IDPs displaced during the 1993 ethnic cleansing. In response, Russia, which had been providing de facto support to Abkhaz separatists, called on Tbilisi to sign a Treaty of Non-Use of Force with Abkhazia, even though the Saakashvili administration refused to sign any treaty with separatist forces.

On February 26, a breakthrough was announced by President Saakashvili, who claimed having reached a deal with Russia to open a joint checkpoint on the Psou river, at the Abkhaz section of the Georgian-Russian border. However, Russia rapidly denied having reached a deal and tensions increased thereafter. The same day, Abkhazia announced military exercises, while a Georgian journalist was arrested by Abkhaz forces on the ceasefire line, before being tortured in Sokhumi. On February 29, Abkhaz de facto President Sergei Baghapsh announced a partial mobilization of his troops. And on March 6, Russia formally withdrew from a 1996 Abkhazia embargo treaty. At a Georgian National Security Council meeting held in response, Mikheil Saakashvili stated that Georgia would have a "zero tolerance policy" towards the militarization of Abkhazia.

In later analytical documents, the Georgian government would describe the March 6 decision by Russia to be the start of the prelude of the Russia-Georgia War, while both Tbilisi and the Bush Administration in the United States warned at the time that the lifting of sanctions on Abkhazia was an excuse by Russia to deliver military hardware to the region. Russian officials at the time linked the Kremlin's policy towards Abkhazia to a response of Georgia's attempt to join NATO. On March 14, Abkhaz officials announced it would reject any attempted negotiations with the Georgian government as long as its troops remained stationed in the Kodori Gorge. Days later, President Saakashvili travelled to New York to present a new peace plan to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, before announcing a proposal to create a joint Abkhaz-Georgian police force in the ethnically-Georgian district of Gali in Abkhazia.

Sergei Baghapsh and Vladimir Putin at a press conference (2009).

On April 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order legalizing relations between the Russian Federation and Abkhazia. A day later, Georgian intelligence noted the arrival of 300 Russian soldiers at a military base in Ochamchire, which Western powers called an "escalation". According to Abkhaz reports provided to the European Union's Fact-Finding Mission following the Russia-Georgia War (IIFFMCG), this decision by Putin provided an excuse for Georgian intelligence activities to increase in southern Abkhazia, especially in the Gali and Tkvarcheli regions, where Tbilisi looked for possible troops deployment routes, fording sites across the Enguri river, and preparedness levels. Part of that intelligence activity included drone flights to "methodically collect intelligence data, monitor key strategic facilities, and obtain information pertaining to the deployment of the Abkhaz Armed Forces." Saakashvili later told The New York Times that Russia had secretly expanded military aid to Abkhazia, staging aircraft inside the region and assigning trainers to Abkhaz ground units.

Rising Russo-Georgian tensions

Tensions between Georgia and the Russian Federation had existed ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The pro-Western orientation of the Saakashvili administration following the Rose Revolution heightened those tensions, while Tbilisi and Moscow navigated through several diplomatic crises, most notably the 2006 espionage scandal. In 2007, Russia was accused by Tbilisi of two airborne attacks on Georgian positions in Abkhazia, leading to Georgia calling for an internationalization of the Russian peacekeeping force in the conflict zone.

The issue of Kosovo's independence contributed to a worsening of ties, with the Kremlin declaring in early 2008 that the recognition of Kosovo by Western powers would "set an international precedent", hinting at Russia's own relations with the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. On the eve of Kosovo's declaration of independence, President Saakashvili called on Russian President Vladimir Putin "not to play with fire". Despite a war of words, a summit of Saakashvili and Putin was held in Moscow on February 21 and tentative deals were announced to lower tensions. A potential détente was however prevented by Russia's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the CIS embargo on Abkhazia on March 6, as well as Georgia's commitment to seek NATO membership at the April Bucharest Summit. On May 3, Saakashvili used the term "occupation" for the first time to describe Russia's military presence in Abkhazia.

Georgian drone program

An Elbit Hermes 450, operated by the US Customs and Border Protection.

Georgia incorporated the use of unmanned aerial vehicles within its internal security apparatus since at least 2007, when the Georgian Ministry of Defense signed a contract with the Israeli military manufacturer Elbit Systems (although Abkhaz authorities alleged the manufacturing of the drones started in 2006). Though the details of the contract were never confirmed, reports from the shot drones revealed them to be Elbit Hermes 450 models. The deployment of the UAVs by Georgia's Defense and Interior Ministries dates back to August 2007, though they were first mentioned in October during a press conference by Abkhaz de facto President Sergei Baghapsh, who threatened to shoot down any drone flying over the region. In November, Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili confirmed Georgia's acquisition of Israeli-made drones during an interview with The Jamestown Foundation, although President Saakashvili refused to comment on his minister's comments. The Georgian Ministry of Defense first confirmed its possession of drones when denying the March 18 shoot-down.

On April 22, two days after a Georgian drone was shot down by a Russian military jet, Mikheil Saakashvili discussed the extent of Georgia's drone program in an interview with The New York Times, confirming the purchase of 40 Israeli-made UAVs. Reports by Sokhumi claimed those drones carried optical infrared and laser sensors, and data transfer systems capable of transmitting images in real time to command and control centers on the ground, were designed to carry out surveillance, patrolling, reconnaissance, and fire adjustment missions, and were capable of detecting any movement from a distance of 25 km, reading registration plates, transmitting photographs of passengers, and identifying weapons. Abkhazian authorities noted at least 16 cases of UAV flights over the region between August 2007 and March 2008.

Georgian reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia reportedly increased following Russia's withdrawal from the CIS embargo treaty and its subsequent opening of diplomatic ties with the separatist republics in March 2008. Georgian military experts believed that the key task of the Georgian drones was to confirm the deployment of Buk missile systems in Abkhazia, while Tbilisi stated its use of drones was to engage in reconnaissance of Russian and Abkhaz military movements. Georgian Interior Ministry spokesperson Shota Utiashvili confirmed in May that the drones were "conducting reconnaissance of the Abkhaz territory to identify where the Russian and Abkhaz armed forces and military hardware are concentrated." Drone footage released on May 12 by the MIA showed what Tbilisi claimed to be movement and deployment of Russian troops and military equipment within the region. The UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) reported several drone flights over the Kodori Gorge, but could not confirm if those UAVs were of Russian or Georgian origin. Sokhumi continuously condemned drone flights over Abkhazia, claiming they were used to draw up maps for a potential Georgian attack scenario. A UNOMIG investigation found the Georgian drone flights to be in violation of the 1994 Moscow Ceasefire Agreement that banned military hardware, including for reconnaissance purposes, from the region. Even though the same investigation confirmed that illegal Russian military aid to Abkhaz separatists, Georgia suspended its drone flights over Abkhazia on May 30.

Several reports of Georgian drone flights over Abkhazia were made by separatist authorities in 2009, although Tbilisi vehemently denied them and independent reports could not confirm those allegations.

Georgian-made SWAN III drone.

Journalist Nicholas Clayton later called the Russia-Georgia war "the world's first two-sided drone war", with Georgia's UAV capabilities surpassing Russia's outdated, Soviet-era fleet, with its Elbit Hermes 450 fleet inspired by the US-made General Atomics MQ-1 Predator. Georgia's advantage ended in 2009 when Israel started manufacturing drones for Russia.

Emails by the intelligence corporation Stratfor leaked by WikiLeaks revealed that Georgia believed Israel had provided Moscow with the data link codes for its drone fleet, allowing Russia to hack them and force crash them in exchange for Russian intelligence on the Tor-M1 missile systems it had sold Iran. Shortly before the Russia-Georgia War, Russia hinted it would sell advanced weapons to Iran if Israel did not stop its military cooperation with Georgia, which it would later do days before the war. Elbit Systems would later sue the Georgian government for its refusal to pay for previously-purchased hardware, and Georgia was made to settle for 35 million dollars. By 2012, Georgia started manufacturing its own line of drones with the assistance of Estonian military development company ELI. The SWAN III, developed jointly by ELI and the Georgian-based STC Delta, became operational in 2012 and Saakashvili admitted for the first time the reasons why his government ended military cooperation with Israel during a speech in 2013. After the defeat of Saakashvili's party in the 2012 parliamentary elections, the new Georgian government led by Bidzina Ivanishvili restored commercial ties with Elbit Systems.

Incidents

Full timeline

• 6 March: Russia withdraws from the 1996 CIS Treaty on Abkhazia Sanctions, triggering condemnations by Georgia and concerns about illegal military trade between Moscow and Sokhumi.

Mikheil Saakashvili walking with top US and Georgian military leaderships.

• 14 March: Abkhazian separatist authorities reject any conflict resolution negotiation with Tbilisi and demands the withdrawal of Georgian troops from the Kodori Gorge.
• 18 March: Abkhazian separatists claim shooting down a Georgian UAV over the village of Primorskoe, near the Georgian-populated region of Gali. Tbilisi denies the drone's shootdown but confirms its reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia. Moscow condemns what it calls a violation of the 1994 Ceasefire Agreement.
• 20 March: The People's Assembly of Abkhazia issues a statement condemning "systematic flights of Georgian aircraft over Abkhaz airspace for reconnaissance purposes" as proof that Tbilisi is "taking a course towards preparation for another military invasion of the Republic of Abkhazia."
• 21 March: The State Duma passes a resolution calling on the Kremlin "to consider the expediency of recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia" and to review the feasibility of increasing the Russian peacekeeping force in Abkhazia.
• 26 March: PACE Co-Rapporters on Georgia Matyas Erosi and Kastriot Islami visit Georgia among other things to discuss "recent developments in relation to Abkhazia and South Ossetia."
• 28 March: Mikheil Saakashvili unveils a new peace plan for Abkhazia, including a joint Georgian-Abkhaz Free Economic Zone in Ochamchire and Gali, the creation of the post of Vice-President of Georgia to be allocated to a representative of Abkhazia with the right to veto all decisions by the central government on its constitutional status, specific security guarantees, and "unlimited autonomy." The proposal is immediately rejected by Sokhumi.
• 3 April: In a letter to Abkhazia's Sergei Baghapsh and South Ossetia's Eduard Kokoity, Vladimir Putin writes that "Russia can not ignore Tbilisi’s line directed towards destabilization of the situation, including through use of intimidation and force – including through appealing to non-regional states."
• 4 April: NATO Bucharest Summit Declaration, pledging the future NATO accession of Georgia and Ukraine, but refusing to grant either a Membership Action Plan.
• 15 April: The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1808, extending UNOMIG's mandate till October and calling for the return of Georgian IDPs to Abkhazia.
• 17 April: Putin signs an executive order establishing direct diplomatic ties between Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The decree leads to widespread condemnation by Georgia and its international partners.
• 20 April: Georgian UAV is shot down over the village of Gagida in the Gali district. Tbilisi acknowledges the loss of a drone and blames Russia, releasing footage showing a Russian aircraft shooting an air-to-air missiles at the UAV. Both Russia and Abkhazia deny Moscow's involvement, instead alleging the drone was brought down by the Abkhaz Armed Forces. A later UN investigation confirms Georgia's accusation against Russia, while Russia accuses Georgia of violating the 1994 Ceasefire Agreement.

Meeting of Condolezza Rice and Sergei Lavrov.

• 21 April: Mikheil Saakashvili and Vladimir Putin hold a phone conversation described as "not easy". During the discussion, Saakashvili calls on Russia to "stop attacks on Georgia", while Putin "expressed bewilderment" over the UAV flights.
• 22 April: U.S. State Secretary Condolezza Rice and her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov meet in Kuwait and talk about the drone shoot down in Abkhazia.
• 23 April: UN Security Council session is held at the request of Georgia to discuss the drone downing. The US, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany issue a joint call expressing their concern over Russia's move to establish ties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
• 24 April: In a televised national address, President Saakashvili announces seeking to replace Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia with an international mission. The number of Russian forces stationed in Abkhazia increases from 2,000 to 2,540. The Kremlin uses the Georgian drone flights to justify the need for more peacekeepers.
• 29 April: Moscow announces an increase in Russian peacekeeping troops after accusing Georgia of increasing its own military presence in the Kodori Gorge.
• 30 April:
  • Separatist leaders Sergei Baghapsh and Eduard Kokoity reject the Georgian proposal to form a confederacy with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
  • The OSCE Permanent Council holds an emergency session over the April 20 drone incidents. A special Forum for Security Cooperation is called by the Finnish Presidency, which endorses the UN-led investigative effort.
  • The NATO and Russian Ambassadors meet in Brussels over the Abkhazia crisis.
  • The People's Assembly of Abkhazia calls on the Abkhaz separatists leadership to withdraw from the Geneva Process, a format of negotiations between Tbilisi and Sokhumi mediated by France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the US.
  • Secretary General Terry Davis of the Council of Europe call on Georgia and Russia to "do everything in their power to prevent any further deterioration of the situation with negative consequences for the local population and stability in the region."
• 3 May: Saakashvili used the term "occupation" to describe Russia's military presence in Abkhazia for the first time.
• 4 May: Abkhaz separatists allege shooting down another two Georgian drones flying over the Gali district. Georgia denies the claim, but Russia backs Sokhumi's allegations. Instead, Tbilisi recognizes the extent of its drone program and pledges to continue flying UAVs over Abkhazia.
• 5 May:
  • Sokhumi claims detecting another Georgian UAV flying over the Ochamchire district, but claims having willingly not shot it down.
  • Georgia withdraws from the 1995 Agreement on the Creation of the Integrated Air Defense System of CIS Member States, urging the United Nations to investigate the presence and use of air defense systems by separatist authorities in Abkhazia.
• 6 May: The White House formally backs Georgia in its claim that Russia downed the Georgian UAV on April 20.
• 8 May: Abkhazia claims having shot down a fifth Georgian UAV, a claim denied again by Tbilisi. According to Sokhumi, the drone carried an air-to-air missiles, though Georgian military equipment did not include missile-carrying drones.
• 12 May:
  • Abkhazia announces having shot down an additional two Georgian drones, one of which is confirmed by Tbilisi. These are the last drone shootdown allegations made by Abkhazia before the launch of the Russia-Georgia War.
  • George W. Bush speaks to his new Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in their first phone conversation after the latter's inauguration. They speak extensively about the Abkhazia crisis.
  • Georgia's UN Ambassador Irakli Alasania visits Sokhumi and meets with separatist officials to seek a negotiated conflict settlement.
  • Tbilisi releases drone footage claiming to prove Russian troop and military hardware deployment in Abkhazia.
  • President Saakashvili calls on the European Union to launch a formal investigation on the Russian use of force to down Georgian drones over Georgian recognized airspace.
• 15 May: The UN General Assembly votes in favor of a Georgia-sponsored resolution calling for the return of IDPs to Abkhazia.
• 26 May: The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia publishes its final investigative report on the April 20 drone shootdown, confirming Georgia's accusations that a Russian military jet downed the aircraft. Georgia demands an official apology and compensation from the Russian Federation.
• 30 May: Georgia announces the suspension of its done flights over Abkhazia during a UN Security Council meeting.
• 31 May: In an interview with Le Monde, Vladimir Putin hints that Georgia's use of reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia is meant to prepare for an invasion of the separatist region.
• 1 June: In a note of protest sent by the Georgian delegation at the OSCE to its Russian counterpart, Tbilisi recognizes having lost a total of three drones during the crisis, including with the use of Buk anti-missile systems.

Meeting of Mikheil Saakashvili and Dmitry Medvedev.

• 1 July: Using the Georgian UAV flights over Abkhazia as a reason, Russia proposes the installation of radar stations in South Ossetia.

18 March Primorskoe shootdown

On March 18, 2008, Stanislav Lakoba, Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Abkhazia, announced to local press that a reconnaissance aircraft had been shot down at 12:05 over the village of Primorskoe, near the administrative boundary between the Ochamchire and Gali districts. Abkhaz officials claimed having shot down the UAV with an Aero L-39 Albatros, while a later analysis of radar records by the UN Observer Mission in Georgia confirmed a drone was shot down at an altitude of 4,500 m. The drone, identified by separatist military officials as an Elbit Hermes 450 (Serial Number 551), allegedly fell into the Black Sea, while debris was said to have been recuperated by the evening. Said debris was exhibited to local journalists in Sokhumi.

The Georgian Ministry of Defense immediately denied the incident, while admitting nonetheless the conduct of reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia to track Russian military movements in the region. A latter UNOMIG investigation confirmed nonetheless the downing of a drone, with eyewitnesses in the Gali village of Nabakevi talking about hearing an explosion, while it estimated that the aircraft's maximum range was "consistent with Georgian ownership". Abkhaz de facto Deputy Defense Minister Gari Kupalba alleged that the downed drone had been performing reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia since the summer of 2007. UNOMIG called the flying of Georgian reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia a violation of the 1994 Moscow Ceasefire Agreement, leading Abkhaz President Sergei Baghapsh to warn the central Georgian government about the "inadmissibility of reconnaissance activities."

On March 20, the People's Assembly of Abkhazia issued a declaration warning about Tbilisi's course "towards preparation for another military invasion of the Republic of Abkhazia," calling the UAV flights a "provocative action", and calling on Russia, the United Nations Secretary General, and the Group of Friends of Georgia (made of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the United States) to "take appropriate measures to prevent a new war in the Caucasus." On April 14, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the Ministry of Defense of Russia issued a note of concern to the Security Council of Russia about Georgian alleged violations of the 1994 Moscow Agreement with the drone flights. On April 15, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin talked about the "new phenomenon of overflight jets in the security zone" and criticized the "build-up of the Georgian military" as evidenced by a "recently shot-down drone in the airspace of the security zone."

20 April Gagida shootdown

Location of Gagida in Abkhazia.

At 09:57 on April 20, an Elbit Hermes 450 UAV (Serial Number 553) belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia was shot down over the village of Gagida in the Gali district of Abkhazia, while at an altitude of 6,000 m. Eyewitnesses described two loud explosions, an object departing from an aircraft, ignition in the air, and debris parachuting into the Black Sea, around 250 m from the Abkhaz shoreline, before the same aircraft gained height and flew north. Locals in the Abkhaz village of Dikhagudzba described having noticed a southbound aircraft traveling over the Black Sea at some point between 09:30 and 10:00. CIS peacekeepers reported having identified the drone at an altitude of 3,000 m over the towns of Anaklia and Pichori, before witnessing its explosion about 1 km northwest of Pichori.

The first to report on the drone shootdown was Georgian news network Mze TV, which reported that the events had been confirmed by State Reintegration Minister Temur Iakobashvili. Other Georgian news agencies reported eyewitness accounts from the Abkhaz village of Primorskoe (where the first drone was allegedly shot down) of a military jet and an airborne explosion. The Georgian Ministry of Defense immediately denied having lost a UAV over Abkhazia, while Iakobashvili retracted his earlier comments and claimed it was impossible to confirm the eyewitness accounts since Tbilisi could not dispatch a recovery team on site in Abkhazia. Hours after the shootdown, Georgian operational command sent a notification to the UN Observer Mission about the drone flight, post-dated April 19. On April 21, Abkhaz Deputy Defense Minister Gari Kupalba announced the recovery of drone debris and claimed that an Abkhaz-owned L-39 jet had brought shot the UAV down with an air-to-air missile as it was conducting a reconnaissance flight over the Gali and Ochamchire districts.

Later that same day, Colonel Davit Nairashvili, commander of the Georgian Air Force, retracted Tbilisi's earlier denial and confirmed during an interview with Reuters that a Georgian UAV had indeed been shot down in Abkhazia after observing troop buildups in Gali. Georgian officials adamantly denied the claim that an Abkhaz L-39 had the capacity to shoot down a drone and Nairashvili affirmed to foreign press that the spy plane had been downed by a Russian Mikoyan MiG-29 that had taken off from a supposedly abandoned military base in Gudauta. The Georgian Ministry of Defense published the entire footage recorded by the drone, a total of 2h27, including the moment when a military jet fires a missile in the direction of its camera. Tbilisi summoned Russian Ambassador Vyacheslav Kovalenko to hand over a note of protest and shared the drone footage with every foreign embassy based in Tbilisi. Russia categorically denied any involvement in the shootdown, claiming that all of its military pilots were "resting" on April 20, a Sunday. President Saakashvili called the incident an "unprovoked aggression against the sovereign territory of Georgia" and asked Vladimir Putin during an April 21 phone call to "immediately repeal the establishment of official ties with the breakaway regions and to stop attacks on Georgia." At that moment, Saakashvili stated Tbilisi's response would be "only to offer more peace initiatives" for conflict resolution.

L-39 aircraft.

Moscow consistently supported Abkhazia's version of events, namely that the drone had been shot down by an L-39 that Abkhazia acquired from Ichkeria in the early 1990s. In his conversation with Saakashvili, Putin expressed "bewilderment" at the idea of Georgian UAVs flying over Abkhazia in violation of the 1994 ceasefire agreement. In response to the drone footage released by Georgia, later authenticated by the UNOMIG investigation, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it "does not warrant trust and raises many question marks," noting alleged discrepancies with Tbilisi's version and the alleged pilot's maneuvers, the missile pylons' location on the plane, and several details later discredited by the UN. Georgian military experts believe that it took the military plane two shots to hit its target, for the Elbit Hermes 450 has an engine small enough to make it a difficult target for heat-seeking missiles, hence the eyewitness accounts of "two explosion sounds". Moreover, experts also believe that the technological capacities of the L-39 would have made its successful interception of a small drone in the skies "not a plausible story".

The Georgian Ministry of Defense invited groups of experts from the Baltic states and the United States to conduct investigations into the April 20 incident. On May 12, Saakashvili called for an EU investigation in addition to the UNOMIG ongoing one, which the EU did not do. Eventually, the UNSC-endorsed investigation confirmed Tbilisi's claim of a Russian plane having shot down its drone using a Vympel R-73 missile from a distance of 44.26 km, although it could not confirm if the plane was an MiG-29 or a Sukhoi Su-27.

On April 22nd, then-US Ambassador to Russia William J. Burns sought to raise the issue of the drone's shootdown with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which refused to open talks with Washington on the issue, insisting it only sought direct contacts on the matter with Georgia. According to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, Aleksey Pavlovskiy, the CIS Fourth Department Deputy Director at the Russian MFA, told American diplomats that he questioned the reasoning behind the drone's shootdown, given that Russia "did not need" this kind of altercations with Georgia at the moment. On April 23, the U.S. Department of State issued an official statement expressing "deep concern" over the "shooting down of an unarmed Georgian UAV, by a presumably Russian MiG-29," adding criticism for "the presence of a MiG-29 aircraft in Georgian airspace without Georgian authorization, and the use of weapons from this aircraft." The same day, at Georgia's request, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency session to discuss the drone incident, during which Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin rejected the authenticity of the drone footage, while Georgian Foreign Minister Davit Bakradze affirmed that the incident substantially damaged Russia's role as a neutral mediator in the peace process. On April 30, a Forum for Security Cooperation was organized by the OSCE in Vienna to encourage discussions between Tbilisi and Moscow, mediated by the Finnish Presidency of the OSCE. On May 6, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino directly accused Russia of shooting down the drone, become the first international figure to do so.

United Nations investigation

Area of operation of UNOMIG.

The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia launched an investigation into the April 20 shootdown, establishing a fact-finding team of international investigations, including military radar controllers, UAV technology experts, pilots (including one L-39 pilot), and others. Though UNOMIG originally sought a joint investigation with the Commonwealth of Independent States' Peacekeeping Force, Georgia, and the Abkhaz separatist governments, they each refused to take direct part in the investigation, although the Mission recognized that Georgia was the sole party to fully cooperate along the way. Georgian authorities discussed inviting independent investigative groups from the United States and the Baltic states, although they never published their final findings. Abkhaz authorities refused to cooperate with the Mission for most of the investigation, but gave it access to the debris collected from the alleged shootdowns of March 18, April 20, and May 12. The lack of cooperation with the investigation from Russia was meant with criticism and publicly-deriding comments from Tbilisi.

After analyzing alleged crash sites, debris, studying eyewitness accounts, and Georgian radar records from the Poti radar stations, UNOMIG published its final report on May 26, confirming as authentic the drone footage and radar records provided by Georgia. The investigation found that the military aircraft that brought down the Georgian UAV on April 20 was, indeed, Russian, though it could not confirm what kind of aircraft it was. Available data revealed the plane's design was compatible with either an MiG-29 or a Su-27, both used exclusively by Russia, while the aircraft was seen as confirmed as heading towards Maykop into Russian airspace after shooting down the drone, concluding that the plane belonged to the Russian Air Force. The investigation was unable, however, to confirm Georgia's claim that the plane had taken off from the abandoned base of Gudauta in Abkhazia, which would have constituted a clear violation of the 1994 ceasefire agreement: though the radar picked up the plane's ping near Gudauta, another explanation was that it flew at a low altitude until reaching the vicinity of Gudauta, before ascending high enough to be picked up by the Georgian radar.

The UNOMIG investigation also confirmed that Georgian drones were indeed shot down on March 18 and May 12, despite previous Georgian denials, and confirmed at least five Georgian drone flights and two Russian jet flights over Abkhazia between March 18 and May 12. As for the April 20 incident, the investigation revealed that the drone crossed the ceasefire line at 09:31, while radars first picked up the intercepting jet at 09:48, 12.6 km east of Gudauta at an altitude of 2,800 m. A short-range missile was used to shoot down the drone and the explosion took place inside an international airway at a time when a civilian aircraft were flying.

Dmitry Medvedev addressing Russian troops at the military base of Gudauta (2010).

UNOMIG accused both Georgia and Russia of violating the 1994 ceasefire agreement, Georgia for using a reconnaissance military aircraft banned by the Moscow Agreement, and Russia for using a plane independent from its peacekeeping forces to shoot down the drone on April 20.

The results of the investigation were welcomed by the Georgian government, with Saakashvili praising this "first case when an international organization and especially UN, without general phrases, has directly pointed its finger at Russia" and called for an international inspection of the Gudauta military base. On May 27, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Russian Ambassador Kovalenko to demand an official apology and "appropriate compensation for the material loss". On the other hand, Russia focused on what it called the "root causes" of the incident, namely the use by Georgia of UAVs to illegally engage in reconnaissance missions over Abkhazia, something that Tbilisi justified by pointing fingers at the increased Russian military presence in the region. Discussing the claimed legitimacy of Georgian drone flights, UNOMIG stated,

However legitimate this purpose may seem to the Georgian side, it stands to reason that this kind of military intelligence-gathering is bound to be interpreted by the Abkhaz side as a precursor to a military operation, particularly in a period of tense relations between the sides.

Russian diplomatic efforts focused on finding issues with details of the investigation and the evidence provided, which the Russian MFA called "questionable" just a day after the report's publication. Though it refused to publicize its own radar records, it claimed that the Georgian air radar data "did not coincide with those available for us", asking Georgia to hand over the records to Russia for a separate analysis. Ambassador Churkin further questioned the lack of communication between the pilot of the aircraft and ground control, which, according to him, made it "virtually impossible to shoot down a drone". Aleksandr Drobishevsky, spokesman for the Russian Air Force, denied his force's involvement in the incident. Abkhaz authorities accused the United Nations of bias, with de facto Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba announcing Sokhumi was considering withdrawing from the Geneva Process altogether over the report. When asked about the report's ruling against the plausibility of an L-39's involvement in the shootdown, Shamba said, "all this stuff about double fins is irrelevant."

On May 29, Georgia requested, based on Article 35 of the UN Charter, an emergency session of the UN Security Council to debate the findings of the investigation. Moscow called for the participation of Abkhazia in the session, something that Tbilisi strongly opposed. Georgia's UN Ambassador Irakli Alasania then warned that "it is not in the best interests of Russia to set this kind of precedent, because then the questions arise why can’t other representatives of the separatist movements be allowed at the UN forums." Russia agreed to a Security Council meeting without the participation of Abkhazia, which took place on May 30. During the session, Georgia was backed by the United States, represented by Deputy Representative Alejandro Wolff, who refused to recognize the drone flights over Abkhazia as a violation of the 1994 Moscow Agreement, calling the issue "unclear at best" and based on "an interpretation as to whether a UAV reconnaissance craft that cannot be armed constitutes military action." Georgia acknowledged its violation of the ceasefire and Ambassador Alasania announced during the UNSC meeting an end to Georgia's drone reconnaissance program, though reserving "the right to fly drones" in the future. Russia's Vitaly Churkin spent the session debating the veracity of the report, alleging that the drone footage released by Georgia had been fabricated. On May 31, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the entire process, including the investigation and the UN Security Council meeting.

4 May alleged Gali shootdowns

Location of Dikhazurga in Abkhazia.

Abkhaz separatist authorities claimed having shot down another two Georgian UAVs on May 4. According to the Ministry of Defense of Abkhazia, one drone was shot at 16:06 over the village of Dikhazurga and a second one at 16:51 over the village of Bargebi, both in the Gali district (although Russian press claimed the drones had flown over Ochamchire) and both allegedly brought down by air defense units on the ground. Merab Kishmaria, the separatist republic's Minister of Defense, originally confirmed only one drone shootdown, before adding another one in his official statements. Sokhumi announced having dispatched a search group to locate and recuperate drone debris, located in a radius of 8-12 km from the shootdown point. By the end of day, Abkhaz authorities exhibited alleged debris of the drone to journalists.

Georgian television channel Rustavi 2 originally reported shots fired in the area where the drones were said to have been shot down, with reports of Russian peacekeepers having been taken prisoner. Officials in Tbilisi immediately denied having lost two drones on May 4, calling the claim "another Russian provocation aimed at propaganda support of Russia's military intervention," while confirming that UAVs "have flown, are flying, and will continue to fly over the Georgian sovereign airspace to gather full information about the Russian military intervention." The Ministry of Internal Affairs published a conflicting statement, with Analytical Department head Shota Utiashvili denying any Georgian UAV flying over Abkhazia. The Ministry of Defense of Georgia called the claim an "attempt to distract" from the then-ongoing UN investigation into the April 20 shootdown.

Despite Tbilisi's denials, Abkhaz officials issued several statements of condemnations against Tbilisi and de facto President Baghapsh ordered the Abkhaz military to stand on high alert over increased tensions and issued a direct order to "shoot down any aerial targets violating Abkhaz airspace." Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba called the drone flights "a demonstration of Georgia's aggressive intentions".

Moscow publicly sided with Sokhumi, rejecting Georgia's denial and condemning the alleged drone flights as "unauthorized", while describing Abkhazia's alleged shootdown as "natural", a statement that made Tbilisi question Russia's status as peacekeeper. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that "the authorities in Tbilisi have taken the path of deliberately escalating tensions in the region" by continuing to violate the 1994 ceasefire agreement and "ignoring Russia's warnings."

Location of Bargebi in Abkhazia.

On May 6, Abkhazia's Shamba stated during an interview that the Abkhaz armed forces had used a Buk missile system to shoot down the two UAVs, marking the first admission by Sokhumi that its military possessed such an advanced anti-aircraft system. Separatist authorities claimed that the Buk system had been left behind by Russian forces during the 1992-1993 Abkhazia War, but Georgia believed the system had been positioned in the region as late as 2007, in violation of the 1994 ceasefire agreement, and called on the United Nations to "urgently launch a probe into the presence and use of anti-aircraft defense systems in Abkhazia". Russia's 643rd Anti-Aircraft Regiment stationed in Gudauta in 1992 reportedly possessed three Buk missile systems and had left them behind after the end of the war, a claim that could not be verified over Russia's refusal to allow international monitors into the abandoned Gudauta base.

May 8 spy plane shootdown

On May 8, Abkhazian authorities claimed to have shot down a further spy plane. According to Deputy Minister of Defence Kupalba, the Georgian spy plane was shot down over the Ochamchira district at 5:10pm local time by Abkhazian anti-aircraft systems.

On May 9, Kupalba claimed that the Georgian spy plane allegedly downed May 8 had carried an air-to-air missile.

“The ammunition it was carrying represented danger for both civilians and peacekeeping troops.”

Georgian reactions

Georgia once again denied that any shootdown had taken place, with the head of the Ministry of the interior's information and analytical department Shota Utiashvili saying “That is a lie” and president Saakashvili declaring that “nothing has been shot down”.

On May 12, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs released footage shot by its unmanned reconnaissance drone showing, what it said was, movement and deployment of the Russian troops and their military hardware in Abkhazia.

According to Utiashvili:

“Our drones are conducting reconnaissance of the Abkhaz territory to identify where the Russian and Abkhaz armed forces and military hardware are concentrated.”

Utiashvili claimed that the footage had been recorded on May 8 and he pointed out the fact that Abkhazia claimed to have shot down a spy plane on that day:

“But as you see the drone has returned and brought very valuable information. We have not lost any drone since April 20, when our unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down by the Russian jet. The Abkhaz side simply does not possess capability that could pose a threat to our unmanned aerial vehicle.”

May 12 spy plane shootdowns

On May 12, Abkhazia claimed that it had shot down yet two more spy planes over Ochamchira district. It said that the first shootdown happened around 14:16 pm local time over the village of Shesheleti and the second about an hour later over the village of Achigwara, and that debris of one of the two shootdowns had been found. According to Deputy Defence Minister Kupalba these spy planes too were Hermes 450 produced by Elbit Systems.

Officials in Tbilisi denied the report.

Russian reactions

On May 12, acting spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Boris Malakhov criticised United States diplomat Mathew Bryza for having defended the use of Georgian spy planes over Abkhazia.

“At the same time, besides the reconnaissance activities and fire correction, the unmanned aerial vehicle can carry an air-to-air missile. [...] The statements of the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State made in Tbilisi and Sukhumi are in the line of the U.S. Administration’s efforts to cover up and to shield from criticism those, whom they are actively dragging into NATO.”

On May 20, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, speaking at a hearing at the Russian State Duma said

“Practical actions of the Georgian leadership, which are accompanied by provocations, [...] do not back Georgia’s claim about its readiness to build a dialogue between the conflicting sides. Georgia [...] continues flights [over the conflict zone in Abkhazia]. In particular, within past month the Abkhazian side downed seven Georgian [unmanned reconnaissance] drones,”

Works cited

• Report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia (PDF) (Report). Vol. II. September 21, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
• Report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia (PDF) (Report). Vol. III. September 21, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
• Report of UNOMIG on the Incident of 20 April Involving the Downing of a Georgian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle over the Zone of Conflict (PDF) (Report). UN Security Council. May 26, 2008. Retrieved April 29, 2024.