Georgian Foreign Minister, Grigol Vashadze, said Abkhaz leader, Sergey Bagapsh, was a criminal and it was up to Georgian law enforcement agencies to respond to his threats.

“It is not up to the Foreign Ministry to [comment] on criminals. General Prosecutor’s Office, Interior Ministry and Ministry of Justice will comment on Bagapsh’s statements, because a criminal should be sitting in a jail and [he] definitely will be in the Georgian jail,” Vashadze told journalists before a government session on September 2.

He made the remarks after asked to comment on Bagapsh statement that he had ordered the breakaway region’s navy “to destroy” Georgian ships if they violate Abkhazia’s “territorial waters”. The move, he said, was aimed at preventing Georgian coast guard’s “piracy” involving detention of cargo vessels en route to, and from Abkhazia.