MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russian peacekeepers in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone have been ordered to open fire in the event of a deliberate attack on their positions, a senior Russian military officer said Thursday.

"We [the peacekeepers] are acting under the mandate, agreements and the Russia's military regulations that permit the use of arms in the event of a clear attack on Russian peacekeepers' positions or sentries in the Kodori Gorge," said General Valery Yevnevich, the deputy commander of Russia's Land Forces in charge of peacekeeping operations.

Georgia's authorities Tuesday launched a police operation in the gorge, the only Tbilisi-controlled part of Abkhazia, to disarm a militia led by Emzar Kvitsiani, a former presidential envoy to the area who refused to recognize Tbilisi's rule on Sunday.

Georgia's Interior Ministry said earlier in the day that it had completed the operation in the area but ministry units would remain in the gorge to continue sweeping the area in search for remaining criminal elements.

But the Russian general said Georgia's actions in the gorge had escalated tensions in the whole Caucasus region and near the borders with Russia.

"With these actions, Georgia has increased rather than alleviated tensions and it is unclear how all this will end," Yevnevich said.