MOSCOW, July 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is ready to help peacekeepers in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but has no plans to deploy military hardware in Georgia, the Defense Ministry said Monday.

"Russia is prepared to help peacekeepers both in South Ossetia and Abkhazia at any moment if necessary," ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov said, adding that it meant no plans to deploy troops in Georgia.

"The Russian Defense Ministry is not planning to deploy military hardware in Georgia. Russia strictly observes the 1992 Dagomys agreements under which Russia's quota in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone is 500 servicemen," he said.

He said statements on Russia's alleged plans to deploy troops in the territory of its former Soviet neighbor were "nothing but attempts to escalate tensions in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone."

Russian peacekeepers have been stationed in the zone of the conflict since the early 1990s. Many politicians in the South Caucasus state have called for them to be pulled out, and the Georgian parliament adopted a resolution July 18 to replace them with an international contingent.