TBILISI, February 1 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia demanded a formal apology Wednesday from Russian peacekeeping forces that it said were to blame for a road accident near the self-proclaimed republic of South Ossetia on Tuesday night.
The peacekeepers' truck - seized by military police after it crashed into a car near the village of Tkviavi, in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone - would only be returned if the apology was made, Georgian Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili said.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili backed up the demand by saying that Georgia would "always act in accordance with its own interests."
But the commander of Russia's South Ossetian peacekeeping force, Marat Kulakhmetov, accused the Georgian authorities of "provocation." He urged an international inquiry into the incident, which he said had happened in a densely populated area and in the presence of Georgian television crews.
Kulakhmetov said any further such "provocations" would prompt Russia to take tough measures to defend its peacekeepers, including "the use of arms."
The incident came amid mounting tensions between the two ex-Soviet neighbors over military and energy issues.
Tbilisi has repeatedly accused Moscow of siding with separatists in the breakaway Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Earlier this month, it also accused Moscow of mounting an energy blockade after the main pipeline transporting Russian natural gas to Georgia was damaged by explosions January 22.
