MOSCOW. July 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgia has increased the number of unauthorized flights over the territory of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, Vladimir Ivanov, aide to the Commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, told Interfax-Military News Agency by phone.
"The number of illegal flights of Georgian military aviation over the conflict zone increased dramatically on July 23 and 24, and such flights have been registered by both peacekeeping observer posts and local residents," Ivanov said.
On Sunday morning, the Russian peacekeeping battalion's monitoring points at Eredvi and Pauk registered Georgian planes passing in groups of two or three towards the village of Dzhava from the southwest at an altitude of 3,000 - 3,500 meters. The same afternoon, the North Ossetian battalion's monitoring point Tsnelisi registered the passing of three helicopters from the northwest to the southeast at an altitude of 1,000 meters.
Overnight to Monday, the Eredvi point registered helicopter flights from the southeast to the village of Kekhvi at an altitude of 2,500 meters. In the morning, Eredvi and Pauk again registered flights of groups of up to seven planes from the southeast towards the village of Java.
"The command of the peacekeeping forces declares that these incidents can be regarded as provocative and aggravating the situation in the conflict area," Ivanov said.
Unsanctioned flights over the conflict zone are a serious violation of the respective resolution adopted by the Combined Monitoring Commission for Georgian-South-Ossetian Settlement on July 30, 2002, he said.