Georgian Foreign Ministry confirms airspace violation by Russian helicopter

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia confirmed on Thursday airspace over country's Russian-occupied region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) was violated by a Russian helicopter.

A flight crossed into [the airspace over] the occupied region. The Georgian Foreign Ministry has strict reaction to all such cases.

The mentioned [incident] will become a subject for review at our upcoming talk in Geneva [within an international format of talks between Georgia and Russia]", the ministry said.

The foreign office's Ambassador at Large Vladimer Konstantinidi added the Georgian side would "act using instruments at hand" at the talks in Geneva to react to the incident.

Russian aircraft have recurringly violated Georgian airspace over the recent years, including incidents in 2014 and 2015.