Russia insists its helicopter did not violate Georgian airspace

The Russian Defense Ministry has denied the Georgian Defense Ministry’s allegations that a Russian combat helicopter had violated the Georgian airspace, according to Russian news agency TASS. 

"Russian combat helicopters have made no flights over the territory adjacent to the Georgian border over the past 24 hours. It is not surprising that the accusations, which representatives of the Georgian Defense Ministry have made over the past day, did not point, even approximately, to a place where the Georgian airspace had been violated," Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday, TASS wrote.

"It was only later when the information that the Russian helicopter's ghost had allegedly appeared near the Mereti-Zardiaantkari village, it turned out that the Georgian Defense Ministry had learnt about it by word of mouth from some local residents who told a policeman about their apparitions," Konashenkov added.

He recommended his Georgian colleagues study objective control data, including the one provided by radar aids, before making loud statements next time, TASS said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said that Russia's Mi-8 helicopter had violated Georgian airspace on Thursday morning. "The alien helicopter flew over a police building belonging to the Georgian Interior Ministry in the Mereti village of the Gori district that is under the control of Georgia's central authorities," the Georgian Foreign Ministry claimed.