TBILISI (AFP) — Russia’s warning that it could intervene militarily if war breaks out in two separatist regions of Georgia is a “direct threat of aggression,” Georgia’s deputy foreign minister told AFP Saturday.

The statement issued in Moscow on Friday “represents a direct threat of aggression and a violation of international law, namely the UN Charter,” Deputy Foreign Minister Nicoloz Vashakidze said.

Vashakidze was refering to a warning by senior Russian foreign ministry official Valery Kenyaikin that if war breaks out in Abkhazia or South Ossetia, “then we will have to react, including with military means.”

“We are ready to defend our citizens,” Kenyaikin told journalists.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia lie on Georgia’s side of the border with Russia in the Caucasus mountains.

They broke from central Georgian rule after wars the early 1990s that saw the mass expulsion of ethnic-Georgians by the Abkhaz and Ossetian ethnic groups.

Moscow officially recognises Georgia’s sovereignty in the regions, but also provides strong financial and diplomatic backing for the separatist authorities there.

Most people in Abkhazia and South Ossetia now have Russian passports. Georgia accuses Russia of trying to annex the territories by supporting rebel forces there and encouraging residents to take up Russian citizenship.