MOSCOW, October 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia views the Georgian parliament's newly-adopted resolution on the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as a provocation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
It said the resolution, calling for a suspension of Russian peacekeepers' mandates in the two rebel provinces, accusing them of siding with local separatists, was aimed at destroying the regulatory framework and mediation procedures aimed at resolving the conflict peacefully. "Georgia's political circles behind today's resolution should not forget that the formats of the negotiation process, involving, alongside Russia, the UN, the OSCE, the CIS, and the "Group of Friends" of the UN Secretary-General, were created with the mutual consent of all the sides concerned."
Moscow cautioned authorities in Tbilisi against using violence to restore the nation's integrity, and criticized the idea of replacing Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia with a Western contingent.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the 1990s and have been cultivating close ties with Russia ever since. Tensions between them and Tbilisi surged after Mikheil Saakashvili came to power on the back of the Velvet Revolution in January 2004, and pledged to bring the regions back into the fold.
Russian Deputy Interior Minister Arkady Yedelev accused Tbilisi on Tuesday of again letting Chechen rebels use Georgian territory for transit. He said several dozen militants from the troubled Russian republic were hiding in Georgia's Pankissi Gorge to recuperate before going back to war.
Russia has repeatedly criticized Georgia for turning the Pankissi Gorge, bordering Chechnya, into a safe haven for terrorists.
