Yesterday, Russian officials announced that on Sunday, the Abkhaz rebels shot down an unmanned spy plane belonging to the Georgian troops. The incident happened over the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Georgia immediately issued a statement, accusing a Russian plane of shooting down the drone and calling the incident an act of open aggression.

"We have hard evidence proving that this is the Russian military aircraft shooting down Georgian UAV [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle]," Temu Iakobashvili, the Georgian minister in charge of the breakaway regions, told the Associated Press.

The Russian foreign ministry is staying by its story and is also bringing accusations of its own. The ministry said the flight breached a 1994 peace accord which helped end violence in the province.

The administration for Abkhazia’s separatist group stated that its forces shot down the plane as it was passing illegally through Abkhaz airspace and also breaching ceasefire agreements.

At this point the matter will require further investigations by both parts. Tensions are extremely high between Russia and Georgia, especially over Russia’s support for Abkhazia and also South Ossetia. A diplomatic offensive has been launched against Moscow’s moves and the result is not yet clear.

Georgian Foreign Minister David Bakradze urged the international community Tuesday to stand up for his country against Russia, which is apparently trying to annex the two breakaway regions. "It is a test for Georgia. Also it is a test for the international community, how responsive and how decisive the international community can be when it comes to something that is really unacceptable," Bakradze said according to AFP.