MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian Defense Ministry has denied a Russian military helicopter violated Georgian airspace earlier on Thursday.
"Russian military helicopters have not carried out flights over territory bordering on Georgia in the past 24 hours," the ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said, adding that the Georgian officials based their claims on unconfirmed reports by "some local witnesses."
"We would recommend to our Georgian colleagues next time they make such claims they should rely on data provided by objective monitoring means, radars, in particular."
Georgia said earlier on Thursday that a Russian Mi-8 helicopter crossed the country's administrative boundary near the self-proclaimed region of South Ossetia on December 9 for several minutes, calling the incident "provocative in nature."
