MOSCOW: A Russian diplomat says that Moscow wants to install a radar in Georgia’s breakaway province to monitor flights of Georgian aircraft.

Yuri Popov said on Tuesday in a statement posted on the South Ossetian government Web site that the radar could help prevent incidents similar to those in Abkhazia, another breakaway province of Georgia. Popov represents Russia on a joint control commission for the region overseeing the truce that ended a war there in the early 1990s.

Georgia accused Russia of shooting down an unmanned spy drone over Abkhazia last month, which Russia denied. UN observers studied video footage and concluded that a Russian fighter did shoot down the drone.—AP