Moscow on Wednesday angrily accused Georgia's parliament of trying to re-ignite post-Soviet conflicts by threatening to demand withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from two rebel Georgian regions.
Russian troops were sent to separate warring sides in Abkhazia and South Ossetia when the two Georgian regions broke free of central control in the early 1990s. But Georgia, which is determined to regain control over the two self-declared states, accuses Russia of encouraging separatism and its parliament on Tuesday said it should review the peacekeepers' actions with a view to demanding they leave.
"The Russian side sees this resolution as a provocative step, aimed at increasing tensions, breaking the existing talks mechanisms and liquidating the legal base for regulating the conflicts," said Russia's foreign ministry in a statement. "By blaming Russia for failing to solve the problem of Georgia's territorial integrity, this country's parliament is clearly trying to shift the blame."
Moscow and Tbilisi have been at daggers drawn since the collapse of the Soviet Union, with tense relations frequently degenerating into angry exchanges between the two capitals.
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