2007 Georgia helicopter incident The 2007 Georgia helicopter incident refers to the accusation by Georgia that three Russia n helicopters fired on March 11 , 2007 on the Kodori Gorge , located in the only part of Abkhazia , a break - away autonomous republic in north - western Georgia , that at the time was still under Georgia ' s control . The attack would have been pointed at the village of Chkhalta and damaged a school and the government headquarters of the Georgian - backed Abkhaz government - in - exile . Russia denied any attacks and said all its aircraft near the area were grounded over the weekend . Views . Georgia . Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili held an emergency meeting after the alleged occurrence / incident and told the Security Council that the incident created a grave situation and constituted " a very dangerous , serious and far - reaching provocation " but he stopped short of pointing the finger at Russia directly . He said that he didn ' t " want to make accusations against one particular side . The [ Georgian ] foreign minister has received instructions to contact his Russian counterpart and firmly demand that Russia react to this situation . " On March 14 , Nikoloz Rurua , the then deputy chairman of the Georgian parliament ' s Committee for Defense and Security , did point the finger at Russia as he said that the helicopters came from Russian territory . He further said that the " helicopters , preliminarily identified as Mi - 24 attack gunships , flew [ into the Kodori Gorge ] from Russian territory or , to be precise , from the territory of Kabardino - Balkaria . They made a circle above the villages of Upper Abkhazia , and as they were making a second circle they dropped about 20 unguided rockets , or so - called NURS ( Russian - made unguided ) rockets . " Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Eka Sguladze made similar allegations in remarks to foreign diplomats that day . Russia . The deputy commander of Russia ' s ground forces , Lieutenant General Valery Yevnevich responded that helicopters could not have flown over the Caucasus mountain range . " From the Russian side , it is impossible for helicopters to find a passage to fly through because of the high mountains . Mount Elbrus is over 5 , 000 meters high . Helicopters cannot fly over the Caucasus mountain range for technical reasons , " Yevnevich said . Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin added that Russia was investigating the circumstances of the shooting , but noted that the air force said it did not conduct flights in the area at the time . Abkhazia . Abkhazia ’ s separatist leader Sergei Bagapsh denied any incident . United Nations . A quadripartite Joint Fact - Finding Group ( JFFG ) was convened to investigate the incident . The JFFG , headed by the UN Observer Mission in Georgia , also involved representatives of Russian peacekeepers , and both the Georgian and Abkhaz sides . The interim report was released on April 2 , 2007 , followed by a supplementary report on June 13 . The report was inconclusive , but it confirmed that " helicopters used multiple approaches from the north " to reach the upper Kodori Gorge . It also ruled out the possibility of Georgia ' s involvement in the incident . Aftermath . Georgia accused Russia of a similar incident in August 2007 when a missile was allegedly fired upon Georgian soil , which was denied by Russia . Georgia pressed the UN Security Council to look into both the helicopter and the missile incident .