May 28, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1429

TBILISI, May 27: Georgia demanded on Tuesday that Russia apologise after a UN report said a Russian air force jet had shot down a Georgian spy plane last month, but Moscow said it did not trust the report’s conclusions.

“Georgia protests and demands from Russia an apology and compensation for the cost of the drone,” Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze told reporters after Russia’s envoy was summoned to his ministry.

Russia denies any involvement in shooting down the unmanned aircraft, which was brought down on April 20 over Abkhazia, a Moscow-backed separatist region of Georgia.

Georgia’s pro-Western leaders, who have angered big neighbour Russia by seeking to join Nato, have described the incident as an act of aggression.

The UN report strengthened Georgian accusations — backed by some of its Western allies — that Russia is stoking tension in the volatile region, scene of a separatist war in the 1990s.

Russia’s ambassador in Tbilisi, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, was summoned to the Georgian Foreign Ministry earlier on Tuesday and handed a note of protest over the incident.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it had no issue with the UN team that compiled the report—Reuters