Rice urges Russia, Georgia to avoid provocation

By Arshad Mohammed

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday Russian behavior towards Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia had exacerbated tensions and she urged both sides to avoid provocative actions.

"Frankly, some of the things that Russia did over the last couple of months added to tensions in the region," Rice said as she flew to Prague to sign an agreement on a missile defense system before traveling to Tbilisi later this week.

Rice said she was particularly troubled by Russian moves to establish semi-official links to the separatists in Abkhazia and its decision to send extra troops to the region without the consent of the Georgian government.

"Georgia is an independent state. It has to be treated like one. We have said that both Georgia and Russia need to avoid provocative behavior," Rice told reporters.

"There have been a lot of incidents that have called into question people's commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity and I ant to make very clear that the United States' commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity is very strong," she said.

Georgia's Western allies have warned Moscow it was stoking tensions in a part of the world that is emerging as a major transit route for oil exports.

A BP-led pipeline pumps about 1 million barrels a day of Caspian Sea crude through Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

Georgian forces were driven out of Abkhazia in a separatist war in the early 1990s.