Russia steps up forces in Georgia conflict zone

By Christian Lowe

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia announced on Tuesday it was beefing up its peacekeeping force in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region and accused Tbilisi of readying an invasion to restore Georgian rule.

Tbilisi denied it had any plans for an attack, but the Russian move marks a further escalation in a crisis between the two ex-Soviet neighbours that has already alarmed Georgia's allies in Europe and the United States.

The step came four days after Russia said it would use force to defend its compatriots in the rebel regions if Georgia attacked. Most residents in the regions hold Russian passports.

Russia's foreign ministry said increased tension in Abkhazia and South Ossetia obliged the Russian military to increase its peacekeeping presence.

"This step has been taken based on analysis of information from the conflict zones which shows that tension is rising as a result of measures of a destabilising nature undertaken by the Georgian side," the ministry said in a statement.

"Measures to strengthen the ... (peacekeeping contingent) have been undertaken exclusively with the aim of preventing any possibility of new bloodshed in the South Caucasus."

Russia has had peacekeeping forces in both regions since the end of separatist wars which drove out Tbilisi's forces in the turmoil following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow says the U.N.-mandated peacekeepers prevent further bloodshed but Tbilisi accuses them of siding with the separatists.

The region to the north and south of the Caucasus mountains, also including Russia's rebellious Chechnya, is of particular concern both to Russia and the West. Its patchwork of ethnic populations is a potential hotbed of conflict that could also disrupt vital energy supplies.