Russian, Georgian presidents talk over phone on spy plane

MOSCOW, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Georgian counterpart Mikhail Saakashvili on Monday talked over phone to discuss the shoot down of an unmanned Georgian reconnaissance aircraft near its breakaway region Abkhazia.

Putin said he was surprised by the "military flights performed by the Georgian side over the conflict zone and stressed that this contradicts the letter and the spirit of the Moscow ceasefire and disengagement agreement of May 14, 1994, is a destabilizing factor and leads to the escalation of tensions," the Kremlin press service said.

The Russian head of state defended his orders issued earlier this month to lift sanctions against Abkhazia, saying they are aimed at booming local social and economic development.

Saakashvili accused that a Russian MiG-29 fighter jets destroyed a Georgian unmanned plane in Georgia's airspace on April20 in a televised speech on Monday, saying it's "a gross violation of the UN Charter, an act of international aggression and bombing of the territory of a sovereign state."

Russia, however, denied the allegation, saying the MiG-29 does not belong to its air force.

"On April 20, when the Georgian aircraft was gunned down, there were no flights, Air Force pilots had a day-off," Russian Air Force Deputy Commander Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky said.

Not a single plane of the Russian Air Force performed flights over the North Caucuses region on that day, he said.

Relations between Russia and Georgia were strained due to Russia's support for the breakaway region as well as Tbilisi's bidfor NATO membership despite Moscow's objection.