Georgia has warned that sending of Russian extra troops to Abkhazia “increases the risk of escalation to an alarming extent.”

Additional Russian peacekeepers have already arrived in the Abkhaz conflict zone, Russian news agency reported on May 1, quoting a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman.

According to the report, the extra troops are based in the Tkvarcheli district of the breakaway region.

Russia claims that the increase in the number of peacekeepers is within the limits set by the August 22, 1994 decision of CIS heads of state, which reads that the number of peacekeepers in the Abkhaz conflict zone should be 2,500-3,000.

Officials in Tbilisi said on April 30 that heavy artillery, armored vehicles, and additional military units had already crossed the Georgian-Russian border at the Psou River into the breakaway region.

“Georgia has repeatedly emphasized that Russia’s armed contingent is a major factor of destabilization in the conflict zones,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on April 30. “Build-up of Russian troops in Abkhazia, Georgia involves an extremely dangerous provocation, which increases the risk of escalation to an alarming extent and poses a serious threat to international peace and security.”