(RIA Novosti) - The president of Georgia's self-proclaimed republic South Ossetia said Tuesday that Georgia is staging provocations in the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia, another of its breakaway regions, as a pretext to start a war.
Georgian media reported earlier in the day that a military convoy was traveling to the gorge, the de facto border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia, reports Trend.
Eduard Kokoity said, "As is well known, we have an agreement on mutual support with the republic of Abkhazia; if the situation escalates, we will help our brother republic using all possible means."
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier on Tuesday that Moscow was keeping a close eye on the situation in the Kodori Gorge, and urged the Georgian side to refrain from the use of force that could provoke a new conflict in the region.
Georgia's authorities said Tuesday they hoped to resolve the conflict peacefully, but were not ruling out the use of force.
Russia assisted in concluding ceasefire agreements between Georgia and its separatist republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the early 1990s, and Russian peacekeepers have since helped maintain ceasefire in the conflict zones.