"We will not get distracted by provocations and will purposefully pursue a peaceful solution to the settlement of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict," Merab Antadze said. "We will not deviate from the set path and will not let the situation escalate and evolve into a military confrontation."
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested earlier Thursday that Georgia was looking for a military solution to a long-running conflict with the unrecognized region, as the two countries continued to trade accusations in a dispute involving Russian peacekeepers continued.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement calling on Russia to respect its territorial integrity, accept a proposal on beginning talks on Georgian visas for Russian peacekeepers and fix the route of their movements.
A Russian peacekeeping battalion has been stationed in South Ossetia since an end to fighting in the early 1990s after the region tried to secede from Georgia.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry said last week that the current rotation had not been coordinated with the Georgian co-chairman of the JCC - the body comprising Georgia, South Ossetia and Russia that is attempting to find a solution to the conflict - and that Russia was stalling on talks over visas for its peacekeepers.
