The foreign minister of Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region vowed defiance on Thursday in the face of a threat by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to fire on ships entering Abkhazian waters.
"Any kind of force resorted to against Abkhazia will be considered an aggression and will be repelled - we are ready," Igor Akhba, self-declared foreign minister in Abkhazia's government told Echo Moscow radio.
Abkhazia gained de facto independence from Georgia in 1993 after bitter fighting and the exodus of some 250,000 Georgians.
It is separated from Georgia proper by a peacekeeping corridor that has seen several shooting incidents in recent weeks.
But Saakashvili has vowed to reunify his fractured republic since toppling the old administration in a peaceful revolution last year.
On Tuesday, before leaving on a visit to the United States, Saakashvili increased the stakes, warning that Georgia's navy would target ships that regularly bring Russian tourists to holiday on Abkhazia's Black Sea coast.
"All the ships will be sunk, we will fire on them... as happened in the waters of Abkhazia a few days ago," Saakashvili said, referring to an incident involving a Turkish-registered vessel last week.
On Thursday Akhba said he hoped that Abkhazia could cement its close ties with Russia through some form of association agreement.
Russia has continued to stand by Abkhazia in the conflict. On Thursday Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchinin voiced concern at the close relations between Georgia and the United States, which has helped train Georgia's army.
During his US stay, which ends August 8, Saakashvili is scheduled to meet with several US officials including US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
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