TBILISI. April 23 (Interfax) - The Georgian Foreign Ministry circulated a statement on Wednesday regarding an April 21 telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
"Since Russia has found it appropriate to comment on this telephone conversation, the Georgian Foreign Ministry has to make public its general essence," the statement says.
The Georgian president expressed his outrage at "the act of aggression" against an unmanned and unarmed plane belonging to the Georgian Interior Ministry, which, Georgia believes, was committed by a Russian MiG-29 fighter in Georgian airspace on April 20.
"It was pointed out during the conversation that the military potential of the separatist regimes in Georgia is being beefed up through Russia's assistance, which is categorically unacceptable, and therefore [Georgia] demanded categorically that Russia stop such military assistance," the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.
"The Georgian president also expressed stern protest against the Russian Federation's latest destructive steps aimed at annexing internationally recognized Georgian territory," it said.
Saakashvili also said that Georgia was willing to start negotiations with Russia to find a way out of the crisis marring relations between the two countries, it said.
The Kremlin's press service reported earlier that Putin expressed surprise that a Georgian unmanned aircraft flew over the conflict zone in a telephone conversation with Saakashvili on April 21. The conversation was reportedly initiated by Georgia.