"A total of $500 million will be spent just to ensure security in the Caucasus from the Caspian to the Black Sea," Putin said. "By the end of 2007, we will 'close' the border in full."
Russia said earlier it will deploy two mountain brigades in the Caucasus, near the border with Georgia.
NATO has expanded to include many of Russia's former Communist-bloc allies in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in the Baltic Region. And a NATO ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York decided to step up dialogue with Georgia with the aim of admitting the Caucasus state next year.
Relations between the former Soviet states have been strained over the presence of Russian peacekeepers in conflict zones involving two self-proclaimed republics in Georgia and other issues, including a Russian ban on the import of Georgian mineral water and wine.
Russia's parliament ratified an agreement between Russia and Georgia on the withdrawal of military hardware and personnel from bases on Georgian territory.
Russia is to withdraw military hardware from the southern city of Akhalkalaki by the end of 2006. Russian troops and the rest of its military hardware must be withdrawn by December 31, 2007, which is also the deadline for the handover of Russian military facilities to Georgia.
Alexei Maslov, the commander of the Russian Ground Forces, said at the Federation Council's session that a number of Russian servicemen withdrawn from bases in Georgia will serve in mountain brigades in the Caucasus republics of Karachayevo-Cherkessia and Daghestan.
