Tbilisi/Moscow, 11 March: A US Air Force U-2S spy plane has flown over Georgian territory, a Georgian military source told Interfax today.
"The flight was authorized by an appropriate agreement reached between the United States and Georgia. However, the goal of the flight was not disclosed," the source said about the 7 March flight.
At the same time, Russian military officials said that they monitored the US flight from Russian territory. Two Su-27 fighters were ordered to take off to prevent any possible border crossing by the U-2S.
"The U-2S flight continued from 1110 am to 0340 pm (Moscow time) [0810 to 1240 gmt]. The plane was flying at a speed of 800 kilometres per hour and at an altitude of 18,000 metres," Col Aleksandr Drobyshevskiy, the Russian Air Force's spokesman, told Interfax today.
According to Drobyshevskiy, "[the US plane] was flying at a minimum of 30-35 km from the Russian air border".
He noted that "the Russian fighters were flying along the Russian border parallel to the U-2S". The routes of the Russian and US planes were separated by about 100 km, the spokesman said.