Georgian Interior Ministry footage taken by a drone that Tbilisi claim was shot down by a Russian plane on April 20.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    MOSCOW, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Georgia Tuesday continued trading accusations over the shooting down of a Georgian spy plane which Tbilisi has described as an act of "aggression." But Moscow has denied any involvement.

    "The April 20 incident, when a Russian MiG-29 fighter shot down an unmanned aircraft, belonging to the Georgian Interior Ministry, was an act of aggression against Georgia," said a statement of the Georgian Foreign Ministry.

    The unmanned reconnaissance aircraft was hit Sunday by a missile fired from a fighter jet, according to onboard live video clips released by the Georgian air force and broadcasted on television channels.

    Georgia said radar records showed that the fighter jet took off from a Russian airbase and returned to Russia after the maneuver.

    The Russian Foreign Ministry and air force officers, however, denied the allegation, saying the fighter jet belongs to the Caucasus state's breakaway region Abkhazia.

    "Abkhaz air defense forces shot it down 20 km southwest of Galiat 9:50 a.m. on April 20," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Georgian counterpart Mikhail Saakashvili Monday discussed the issue on the phone, but reached no common ground, Russian and Georgian media reported.

    Relations between Russia and Georgia are strained due to Russia's support for the breakaway region, as well as Tbilisi's bid for NATO membership to which Moscow objects.

    Separatists in Abkhazia unilaterally proclaimed independence after bloody conflicts with Georgian government in the 1990s. An uneasy ceasefire has been monitored by peacekeepers from Russia.