In August 2008, a Tu-22 Blinder bomber was shot down killing the plane's two pilots. The body of one of the pilots, Lt. Col. Alexander Koventsov, was never recovered. Another crewmember was seriously wounded but is now recovering after long-term treatment.
"We have studied the DNA code, handed over by Georgia via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and translated it from Georgian into Russian, however, the data we received is insufficient," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said in an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Nogovitsyn said that Anatoly Serdyukov, the defense minister, had given permission for Russian military experts to hold a meeting with their Georgian colleagues to discuss the next stage in the work to trace the pilot.
He confirmed that the Georgian side had already carried out DNA analysis to confirm the remains were not that of a Georgian soldier.
Nogovitsyn said Koventsov is the only Russian serviceman who remains missing following a brief conflict with Georgia in August.
