Russia-Georgia Tension Mounting

As Georgia has its troops in position, ready to quell the separatist movements in its breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Russian foreign ministry ramped up its rhetoric towards Georgia.

BBC News Reports:

Moscow has accused Georgia of preparing to invade Abkhazia, and says it is boosting Russian forces there and in the South Ossetia region.

Georgia has reacted angrily to the Russian move, which its prime minister called "irresponsible".

The EU also urged caution, saying to increase troop numbers would be unwise given current tensions.

Russia's foreign minister said his country was not preparing for war but would "retaliate" against any attack.

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Georgia denies any build-up of its own forces in the area, and says that Russia is taking provocative action.

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"We think that this step, if they take it, will cause extreme destabilisation in the region," said Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze.

"From now on, we consider every [Russian] soldier or any unit of military equipment coming in [to Abkhazia and South Ossetia] as illegal, potential aggressors and potential generators of destabilisation."

Georgia and Russia have been at odds ever since the dismantling of the Soviet Union. In recent years, Russia has developed a strangle hold over its neighbor as Georgia is now entirely dependent on Russia for oil. In the face of threats to completely cut the flow of oil into Georgia from Russia, Georgian officials have become slave to the drastically inflated prices of oil set by the Kremlin.

Russia's tacit support for Georgia's separatist movements and condemnation of Georgia's mobilization of troops to the regions is quite contradictory if not down right hypocritical with respect to Russia's handling of the Chechen separatist movement. The First and Second Chechen Wars in the 90's resulted in a total death toll upwards of 200,000.

BBC News has more on the recent Russia-Georgia tensions:

Tensions between Russia and Georgia have flared up recently, despite Russia lifting economic sanctions against Georgia earlier this month.

Last week Georgia accused a Russian plane of shooting down an unmanned Georgian spy plane - which Russian authorities insisted was shot down by Abkhaz rebels.

And on Tuesday Georgia said it was blocking Russia's entry to the World Trade Organization.

Many in Abkhazia believe that Kosovo's announcement of independence from Serbia in February provides a precedent for it to be recognised as an individual state.

Although it has its own flag and postage stamps, it is not internationally recognised.

Our correspondent in the area says that with this latest statement the Russian government has pushed the already bellicose rhetoric between the two countries to a new level.