Uzbekistan denies violation of Kazakhstan's airspace

Border Protection Commission of Uzbekistan National Security Service denies the accusations of violation of Kazakhstan's airspace by Uzbek drone, RIA Novosti writes. The commission's message states that "the information spread by Kazakhstan media is not verified and does not reflect the actual situation". "The information published on today.kz on alleged violation of Kazakhstan's airspace by Uzbek drone is incorrect. In this relation Border Protection Commission of Uzbekistan National Security Service officially states that unmanned, manned aviation, or any operative-investigative means of Uzbekistan's air defence forces were not used on Uzbek-Kazakh state border," the Commission added. The information about personnel of border detachment dislocated near Beineu village of Mangistau oblast noticing the unmanned aircraft appeared on February 17. The drone crossed the state border and continued into the territory of Kazakhstan. It spent about 15 minutes in Kazakhstan's airspace flying over two frontier posts, after that it turned around, went back and disappeared in Uzbekistan's airspace. Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry confirmed the violation of Kazakhstan's airspace by Uzbek drone. “The staff office of the border-security forces of Kazakhstan’s National Security Commission confirms that an Uzbek drone violated our airspace. Respective authorities of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are currently negotiating the incident. The staff office of the border-security forces of Kazakhstan’s National Security Commission has filed an official report on this incident to Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry,” official representative of Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry said.