The latest comments made by Giorgi Khaindrava, state minister for conflict resolution issues, continued a heated exchange over the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia that was re-ignited by a Russian peacekeeping battalion's rotation in the region at the end of last month.
"Russia basically started to implement a plan for the military resolution of the conflict in the Tskhinvali [South Ossetian capital] district the day before yesterday - something that has long been discussed both in the Russian press and among Russian officials," the minister said.
A Russian peacekeeping battalion has been stationed in South Ossetia along with Georgian and South Ossetian contingents since an end to fighting in the early 1990s after the region tried to secede from Georgia.
Khaindrava also accused Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other diplomats of using unsubstantiated information.
The minister cited Rem Akimov of the Russian Defense Ministry, who said that Russian peacekeepers had encountered no obstacles during their rotation through the Georgian border in South Ossetia.
He also referred to a contradicting statement from Lavrov, who said the Georgian side had been pursuing a provocative and blackmailing policy line toward Russian troops, thereby escalating the situation.
"It would be true if it were the other way around," he said. "I was in Tskhinvali a few days ago and saw that the district had almost been transformed into a military base."
Khaindrava earlier accused Russia of bringing forces into South Ossetia in excess of an established quota for peacekeepers and using the rotation of its peacekeeping battalion in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict as a cover.
"All this is a diplomatic offensive, an offensive using the press and a military action pursued on Georgian territory, which shows that this had been planned for several months in advance, and has now started," Khaindrava said.
He described the situation as an attempt by the Russian and Tskhinvali authorities to bring a military resolution to the conflict
The minister said Georgia would appeal to international institutions where both Russia and Georgia were members.
"Our main goal is ... to prevent the situation from escalating into a conflict," he said.
Earlier Friday, South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity said South Ossetia was de facto part of Russia, because 90% of its residents were Russian citizens with Russian passports. He also called on the international community to recognize the results of a 1991 referendum in the republic, which had voted in favor of joining Russia and adhered to all international standards, he said.
However, Khaindrava said South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, had always been and would remain an integral part of Georgia.
