"We are alarmed by ongoing provocations against Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia," Sergei Lavrov said, adding that in Abkhazia, the peacekeeping contingent was deployed under a mandate from the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose union of 12 former Soviet republics, including Georgia.
Russian peacekeepers have been monitoring Georgia's ceasefire agreements with Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the two regions broke away from central government control in bloody wars in the early 1990s.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who swept into power on the back of the 2003 "Rose" revolution, vowed to bring the rebellious provinces back into the fold and has repeatedly accused Russia of siding with the separatists, thereby undermining Georgia's territorial integrity.
"This mandate has no timeframe, and the sides are not considering terminating the mandate at this point," Lavrov said. "It is in everyone's best interest - and, most importantly, [in the interest of] regional security - to ensure cooperation by all parties [concerned] with CIS peacekeepers and to meet all obligations, including on the status of the Kodori Gorge."
Kodori serves as a de facto border with Abkhazia, and Tbilisi has so far failed to comply with a UN Security Council resolution calling for the pullout of Georgian troops from the area, the Russian minister said.
Commenting on his Georgian counterpart's recent remark that Russia and Georgia do not have the same definition of morals, Lavrov said: "Indeed, Georgia's policy can be called neither responsible nor moral."
He accused Tbilisi of violating agreements not to use military force against the breakaway provinces or form "structures alternative to the [provincial] authorities."
