Russia asks Georgia not to stir tensions in regions

By Oleg Shchedrov

ASTANA (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Saturday to refrain from "stoking tensions" in Georgia's breakaway regions.

Medvedev and Saakashvili attended celebrations for the 10-year anniversary of the world's youngest capital, Astana, which was made the capital by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

"The president (Medvedev) drew Saakashvili's attention to the need to refrain from stoking tensions in the region and also stressed the need to continue talks with all parties involved," a Kremlin spokesman told reporters.

Georgian officials were not immediately available to comment.

Medvedev's message to Saakashvili followed a new shootout in South Ossetia and a bomb blast in Abkhazia.

Georgia's rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from central rule during wars in the 1990s and are regular flashpoints for tensions with Russia, which provides financial support and has peacekeepers in both.

Tbilisi accuses Moscow of seeking to annex the regions, where the majority of the population hold Russian passports. Moscow denies such plans and in turn accuses Tbilisi of seeking to restore control over the provinces by force.

Georgia, which seeks membership of NATO and the European Union, has said it wants to replace Russian peacekeepers with an international force.