Parliament in breakaway Abkhazia warned in a statement on March 20 that Tbilisi’s recent moves indicated it had “taken a course towards preparation for another military invasion of the Republic of Abkhazia,” Apsnipress news agency reported.

The statement reads that the most recent example of Tbilisi’s provocative actions was the violation of Abkhaz airspace by an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. The Abkhaz authorities said on March 18 that they had shot down an unmanned Georgian spy plane, produced by Israel’s Elbit Systems. The Georgian Ministry of Defense, however, denied the claim.

“Systematic flights of Georgian aircraft over Abkhaz airspace for reconnaissance purposes,  in combination with the deployment of armed forces, including military hardware, all along the Abkhaz-Georgian border; sending Georgian journalists for provocative purposes to Abkhazia and subsequent propagandistic hysteria in Tbilisi following their detention; terrorist acts against the citizens of Abkhazia; attacks against training centers of Abkhaz armed forces with the death of two instructors, confirm that the Georgian leadership has taken a course for the preparation of another armed invasion of the Republic of Abkhazia,” the statement reads.

“The Abkhaz leadership has warned the Georgian authorities many times about the unacceptability of such actions,” the statement reads. “However, Georgia continues its policy directed towards aggravation of the situation on the Abkhaz-Georgian state border.”
 
The Abkhaz parliament called on the Russian leadership, the UN Secretary General and the Secretary General’s Group of Friends (Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States) to take appropriate measures to prevent a new war in the Caucasus and to press the Georgian leadership not to use force against Abkhazia.