On February 26, a breakthrough was announced by President Saakashvili, who claimed having reached a deal with Russia to open a joint checkpoint on the Psou river, at the Abkhaz section of the Georgian-Russian border.

[12] Days later, President Saakashvili travelled to New York to present a new peace plan to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,[13] before announcing a proposal to create a joint Abkhaz-Georgian police force in the ethnically-Georgian district of Gali in Abkhazia.

"[17] Saakashvili later told The New York Times that Russia had secretly expanded military aid to Abkhazia, staging aircraft inside the region and assigning trainers to Abkhaz ground units.

The pro-Western orientation of the Saakashvili administration following the Rose Revolution heightened those tensions, while Tbilisi and Moscow navigated through several diplomatic crises, most notably the 2006 espionage scandal.

[21] A potential détente was however prevented by Russia's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the CIS embargo on Abkhazia on March 6, as well as Georgia's commitment to seek NATO membership at the April Bucharest Summit.

The deployment of the UAVs by Georgia's Defense and Interior Ministries dates back to August 2007, though they were first mentioned in October during a press conference by Abkhaz de facto President Sergei Baghapsh, who threatened to shoot down any drone flying over the region.

[18] Reports by Sokhumi claimed those drones carried optical infrared and laser sensors, and data transfer systems capable of transmitting images in real time to command and control centers on the ground, were designed to carry out surveillance, patrolling, reconnaissance, and fire adjustment missions, and were capable of detecting any movement from a distance of 25 km, reading registration plates, transmitting photographs of passengers, and identifying weapons.

Georgian reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia reportedly increased following Russia's withdrawal from the CIS embargo treaty and its subsequent opening of diplomatic ties with the separatist republics in March 2008.

A UNOMIG investigation found the Georgian drone flights to be in violation of the 1994 Moscow Ceasefire Agreement that banned military hardware, including for reconnaissance purposes, from the region.

[34] The SWAN III, developed jointly by ELI and the Georgian-based STC Delta, became operational in 2012 and Saakashvili admitted for the first time the reasons why his government ended military cooperation with Israel during a speech in 2013.

On March 18, 2008, Stanislav Lakoba, Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Abkhazia, announced to local press that a reconnaissance aircraft had been shot down at 12:05[27] over the village of Primorskoe, near the administrative boundary between the Ochamchire and Gali districts.

[53] The Georgian Ministry of Defense immediately denied the incident,[52] while admitting nonetheless the conduct of reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia to track Russian military movements in the region.

A latter UNOMIG investigation confirmed nonetheless the downing of a drone, with eyewitnesses in the Gali village of Nabakevi talking about hearing an explosion,[27] while it estimated that the aircraft's maximum range was "consistent with Georgian ownership".

Other Georgian news agencies reported eyewitness accounts from the Abkhaz village of Primorskoe (where the first drone was allegedly shot down) of a military jet and an airborne explosion.

[52] On April 21, Abkhaz Deputy Defense Minister Gari Kupalba announced the recovery of drone debris and claimed that an Abkhaz-owned L-39 jet had brought shot the UAV down with an air-to-air missile as it was conducting a reconnaissance flight over the Gali and Ochamchire districts.

[18] The Georgian Ministry of Defense published the entire footage recorded by the drone, a total of 2h27, including the moment when a military jet fires a missile in the direction of its camera.

[71] On the other hand, Russia focused on what it called the "root causes" of the incident, namely the use by Georgia of UAVs to illegally engage in reconnaissance missions over Abkhazia,[72] something that Tbilisi justified by pointing fingers at the increased Russian military presence in the region.

Discussing the claimed legitimacy of Georgian drone flights, UNOMIG stated, However legitimate this purpose may seem to the Georgian side, it stands to reason that this kind of military intelligence-gathering is bound to be interpreted by the Abkhaz side as a precursor to a military operation, particularly in a period of tense relations between the sides.Russian diplomatic efforts focused on finding issues with details of the investigation and the evidence provided, which the Russian MFA called "questionable" just a day after the report's publication.

[74] Abkhaz authorities accused the United Nations of bias, with de facto Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba announcing Sokhumi was considering withdrawing from the Geneva Process altogether over the report.

[86] According to emails leaked by WikiLeaks, Stratfor analyst Karen Hooper claimed having an "Abkhaz source" that told her local authorities kept using the same downed drone's debris in various incidents, including on May 8, simply moving the wreckage for videos.

The April 20 incident severely damaged bilateral relations between Tbilisi and Moscow, with President Saakashvili calling it an "unfriendly move" and building a campaign to internationalize the Abkhazia peacekeeping force.

Many experts, including former Deputy Military Intelligence Director Zviad Chkhaidze, believed that the drone shootdowns could be leveraged by Tbilisi to pressure NATO to grant it a Membership Action Plan (MAP) at its Bucharest Summit.

Russia's government was heavily critical of Georgia's drone program, arguing the presence of reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia caused a threat to regional stability and violated the 1994 Moscow Ceasefire Agreement.

On May 31, Vladimir Putin, then-Prime Minister of Russia, talked about the drone crisis in an interview with Le Monde: Much is spoken now about downing of several Georgian unmanned aerial vehicles over Abkhazia.

[92] Except for one report by the UN Secretary General that called the drone flights "one of the sources" of the renewed Georgian-Abkhaz tensions,[93] most statements from the international community were made in support of Georgia's territorial integrity and in condemnation of Russia's military activity in the region.

[94] A day later, the United States House of Representatives adopted a nonbinding resolution criticizing "provocative and dangerous statements and actions taken by Russia", calling for a UN investigation into the April 20 incident, and urging NATO to grant Georgia the MAP.

[95] At a Congressional hearing, Assistant State Secretary Daniel Fried cited the "downing of the Georgian reconnaissance drone by a Russian fighter jet" as one of the main contributors to the Georgia-Russia crisis.

[99] On April 30, Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, called on Georgia and Russia to "do everything in their power to prevent any further deterioration of the situation with negative consequences for the local population and stability in the region."

[29] Addressing the Duma on May 20, Foreign Minister Lavrov condemned "practical actions and provocations by the Georgian leadership, including continuing flights over the conflict zone in Abkhazia."

[102] In early August 2008, Israeli media revealed that Israel had halted the sale of military equipment, including its Elbit drones, to Georgia after Russia had issued a note of protest following the April 20 incident.