EUobserver.com

Russia shot down a Georgian drone aeroplane near the break-away republic of Abkhazia on the weekend, the Georgian government claimed on Monday (21 April).

The alleged attack came in the middle of a hastily organised trip to Brussels by the Georgian deputy prime minister aiming to drum up robust diplomatic assistance in his country's escalating geographic tussle with Russia.

"On 20 April 20 ... a MIG-29 'Fulcrum' Russian fighter jet shot down an unarmed Georgian reconnaissance drone ... in the airspace of Georgia," reads a government statement, which bases the claim on video footage that has been released to the public.

A Russian air force spokesperson denied the Georgian claim, according to the Reuters news agency, describing the allegation as "Nonsense."

"What would a Russian jet fighter be doing over Georgian territory?" said the spokesperson.

On Sunday, Abkhazian separatists claimed they had shot down a Georgian plane. Georgia immediately denied that this had occurred.

The following day, however, a Georgian government source said the Georgians had simply been denying that it was the Abkhazians who were responsible.

Either way, said the source, it is "bad news": "If it is indeed Russia, then it makes them undeniably a party to the conflict and they have just violated the UN Charter.

"If it truly was the Abkhazians that did it, then they have just violated the 1994 cease-fire agreement."

The Georgian deputy prime minister was in Brussels to meet EU and NATO officials in a bid to shore up support from Western allies in the face of Russian moves on 16 April to establish legal links with the de facto governments of the break-away Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Meanwhile, the Georgian foreign minister has been dispatched to the United States for support from Washington.

Referring to the Russian overture to the separatist administrations, vice-prime-minister Giorgi Baramidze said in an interview with EUobserver: "Russia has taken an extremely dangerous and provocative step. They've crossed a virtual red line."

"We are facing of a very dangerous situation. Anything can happen."

"If, God forbid, things go wrong, it would not only destabilise Georgia," he said, "but the whole of Europe."

The vice-prime-minister's mission was largely successful, he said. On Friday, both the EU and NATO issued statements calling on Russia to reverse its decision to extend contacts with the break-away regions.

"This is very bold step for both the EU and NATO," he said. "This the first time that Russia's been told directly not to interfere with Georgia's internal affairs so openly, so directly, so clearly."

However, he warned that Europe and the West were facing a "moment of truth" in their ability "to protect democracies, no matter how small and fragile they are."

"The formal position of the EU and NATO has been taken and now it is time to act accordingly, using all diplomatic, political and legal levers."

The United Nations Security Council is set to consider the issue later on Monday.

Europe facing 'moment of truth' over Russia, says Georgia's deputy PM