"One gets the impression that [President Mikheil] Saakashvili and [acting Foreign Minister David] Bakradze are not fully aware of what they are pushing their people toward - they are pushing them into a war in which they will again suffer a defeat," Dmitry Rogozin said.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Between 10,000 and 30,000 people were killed in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict and some 3,000 in South Ossetian-Georgian hostilities. Georgia is looking to regain control over the two republics.
Russia's envoy to NATO was commenting on a statement by Bakradze that Russia's plans to increase the number of its peacekeepers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia marked the beginning of "full-scale military aggression."
"The situation is developing according to the worst of all possible scenarios. This is a fact. And it is happening due to an extremely irresponsible and jingoistic rhetoric on the part of Tbilisi," Rogozin said.
Confirming earlier Russian statements that the number of peacekeepers in the republics would be increased, Rogozin said Moscow was aware that the situation was being closely monitored by the international community.
He said the situation would be addressed at a Russia-NATO Council session on Wednesday in Brussels. "I am sure our colleagues will understand the Russian position, even if they don't say so out loud," he said.
A NATO spokesman said on Wednesday that it was "watching with concern" Moscow's actions in the area, also saying that Russia's moves on the border undermined Georgia's territorial integrity.
Tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi have been escalating rapidly since Russia's outgoing President Vladimir Putin called for closer ties between Moscow and Georgia's two breakaway republics in mid-April. Tbilisi also accused Russia of shooting down a drone on April 20 - a claim Russia flatly denied.
Russia has threatened to use force if Georgia employs "violent measures," against either its peacekeepers or Russian nationals in the de facto independent republics. It also claims Georgia has massed troops on Abkhazia's border in preparation for a military operation.
