SUKHUMI, Georgia — Forces from Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia shot down two unmanned Georgian spy planes over the territory yesterday, an Abkhazian official said.

Georgia denied the claim and traded accusations with Russia, which is struggling with the West for influence in the country strategically located on the Caspian Sea. Each says the incident indicates the other is preparing for war over the breakaway region.

Yesterday, a representative of Abkhazia’s president, Ruslan Kishmaria, said two planes had been shot down by Abkhazian anti-aircraft forces yesterday. Authorities were searching for fragments of the planes, he said.

Georgian Foreign Ministry official Maka Gigauri dismissed the claims as “completely absurd disinformation.” The ministry later released a statement saying that pilotless, unarmed Georgian planes “will continue to fly in the sovereign airspace of Georgia to gather full information about the military intervention by the Russian Federation.”

Abkhazia and another Georgian separatist region, South Ossetia, seek either independence from Georgia or absorption into Russia. They have had de facto independence since breaking away from central government control in early 1990s wars.

The alleged plane downings led to redoubled Russian accusations that Georgia is gearing up for a military offensive aimed to take control of Abkhazia. “By resorting to escapades with pilotless spy planes and speeding up military preparations … the Tbilisi authorities have taken the path of deliberately inflaming tension in the region,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.