Georgia sent troops to a remote gorge close to one of its breakaway territories today and Russia took the opportunity to warn the Tbilisi government not to do anything to ignite a new conflict.
A government source said a force had been dispatched towards the Kodori gorge - a back-door into breakaway Abkhazia - after a local strongman declared his autonomy from rule from Tbilisi.
"The only thing we can discuss with such people, after they lay down their arms, will be which cells they occupy in prison," President Mikhail Saakashvili said yesterday.
The government source did not spell out how big the Georgian military force was.
Russian peacekeepers told Interfax news agency Georgia had dispatched 30 trucks, 37 jeeps, two armoured vehicles and more than 500 troops. The gorge was one of the routes Georgian troops took in an unsuccessful attempt to re-establish central control over the rebel region in 1992-93.
Russia, that sees itself as a regional peacekeeper but is on poor terms with the Saakashvili leadership, reacted swiftly.
"We are carefully monitoring events. We call on Georgia to restrain from armed action that could incite new conflict in the region," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Abkhazia is a breakaway province of Georgia. The Kodori gorge lies within Abkhazia's borders, but the heavily forested area is not controlled by the rebels.
Instead, it is largely under the sway of ex-governor Emzar Kvitsiani who angered Tbilisi by declaring autonomy late on Sunday and announcing he had held talks with officials from breakaway Abkhazia and Russian peacekeepers.
The troop movement comes days after Russia and Georgia traded accusations over a second rebel region of South Ossetia, where a pair of bombings prompted Moscow to warn Tbilisi against any attempt to regain control.