(Adds Abkhaz leader on Russian base, final paragraph) By Margarita Antidze and Matt Robinson TBILISI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Georgia said on Tuesday it had shot down a Russian reconnaissance drone near breakaway South Ossetia, but Russia denied the claim and accused Tbilisi of "provocation" ahead of the arrival of EU ceasefire monitors. If confirmed, the downing of the drone over Georgian territory would be the first such incident since last month when Russian forces repelled a Georgian offensive to retake the South Ossetia region from pro-Moscow separatists. Tasked with monitoring the fragile ceasefire, the first members of an EU observer mission arrived in Georgia ahead of the planned pullback of Russian forces from positions deep inside undisputed Georgian territory. A Reuters television reporter saw about 30 uniformed Italian monitors and two light armoured vehicles arrive by plane, the first of at least 200 monitors due on the ground by Oct. 1. Underlining the risks, Russia said Georgia was trying to stir tensions after Tbilisi displayed what it said was a Russian drone shot down over Georgian territory on Monday. "This is the latest media provocation by Georgia with the aim of destabilising the situation in the region," Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky told Reuters. "The aircraft of Russia's Defence Ministry have conducted no flights in the security zone," he said. Georgia said the drone -- one metre in length and 1.5 metres wide -- was downed near the town of Gori, some 30 km (20 miles) from the de facto border with South Ossetia BORDER VIOLENCE "We believe it was patrolling the territory where the Baku-Supsa (oil) pipeline runs," said Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili. Utiashvili said it was a short-range drone capable of taking photographs and suggested it had been launched from a Russian 'security zone' just a few kilometres (miles) north of Gori. Before last month's war, Georgia flew unmanned reconnaissance aircraft over a second breakaway region, Abkhazia. A United Nations report concluded one of them had been shot down by a Russian jet, though Moscow denied this. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was due to address the United Nations General Assembly of world leaders later on Tuesday in New York, looking to hit back at domestic and foreign critics who say he walked into a war Tbilisi could never win. Under the terms of a French-brokered deal, Russian forces are due to withdraw from 'security zones' inside Georgian territory, adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, by Oct. 10. Three Georgian policemen have been shot dead near the border zones this month. Tbilisi blames Russian-backed separatists. Russia recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states after last month's war and says it will station some 7,600 soldiers there indefinitely. Moscow says the EU monitors will not have access to the two rebel regions. In Abkhazia, separatist leader Sergei Bagapsh said Russia would establish a military base in the disputed Kodori Gorge, a strategically key region held by Georgian forces until the war. (Additional reporting by Niko Mchedlishvili in Tbilisi and Tatiana Ustinova and Oleg Shchedrov in Moscow; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
An Interior Ministry Officer stands behind what Georgia says is a Russian made reconnaissance drone in Tbilisi September 23, 2008. Georgia said on Tuesday it had shot down an unmanned Russian ...
