President Mikhail Saakashvili said Thursday, May 8, that Georgia had come "very close" to war with Russia and the "threat remained" for a breakout over its breakaway region of Abkhazia. "If anyone wants to annex a part of Georgia, there will inevitably be consequences," Saakashvili told Russian journalists, though he stressed a desire to return to diplomacy. Russia's military announced early Thursday that would increase its troops in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia to counter Georgia's accumulating military forces in the contested region. "All this is done for the sake of only one thing: preserving peace and avoiding bloodshed," read a statement by the defense ministry. Frayed Georgian-Russian relations have long led to sparks in Abkhazia, the autonomy of which has been defended by Russian peacekeepers since a ceasefire ended a civil war in 1994.
"If anyone wants to annex a part of Georgia, there will inevitably be consequences," Saakashvili told Russian journalists, though he stressed a desire to return to diplomacy.
Russia's military announced early Thursday that would increase its troops in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia to counter Georgia's accumulating military forces in the contested region.
"All this is done for the sake of only one thing: preserving peace and avoiding bloodshed," read a statement by the defense ministry.
Frayed Georgian-Russian relations have long led to sparks in Abkhazia, the autonomy of which has been defended by Russian peacekeepers since a ceasefire ended a civil war in 1994.
