Sides trade claims as Georgia tensions rise

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and the United States called on Wednesday for a halt to violence in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia where separatists made disputed claims of military success against Tbilisi's forces.

But while Moscow's Foreign Ministry urged calm over the deepening conflict, the Russian military accused Georgian military jets of overflying South Ossetia, a charge Tbilisi swiftly denied.

"The current situation in South Ossetia is uneasy and it needs measures to lower the confrontations," Itar-Tass news agency quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Boris Malakov, as saying.

Georgia's key Western ally Washington called for talks.

"We urge all the parties to enter into a dialogue on this issue," U.S. State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters in Washington.

"We believe that it is important for them to come to a discussion to stop any acts of violence," he added.

Tensions between ex-Soviet Georgia and the two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have deepened recently with fears the once frozen conflicts could end up in open war.

The rebel regions lie in a belt of land in the Caucasus that is emerging as a transit route for oil and gas exports from the Caspian Sea, a strategically important region over which the United States and Russia are locked in a battle for influence.

In the latest incident reported by Russian media, rebels said they destroyed Georgian government military vehicles and a military post. They claimed Georgian special forces had been repulsed after trying to cut off the separatist capital from nearby villages, Interfax news agency reported.

Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili denied the reports and said South Ossetian separatists had opened fire on two Georgian-controlled villages, and that Georgian forces had returned fire.

It also dismissed the Russian statement that its jets had overflown rebel territory.

Interfax reported Russia's Foreign Ministry announced special talks on the deteriorating situation. This was denied in a separate report on RIA news agency, quoting Russian Foreign Ministry officials. When contacted by Reuters the Foreign Ministry declined to make any comment.

On Tuesday Russia said it would not be indifferent if there was further violence on its border.

"RUDE VIOLATION"

South Ossetia and Georgia's Black Sea region of Abkhazia broke away from Georgia after fighting wars against Tbilisi in the 1990s. Both have financial and political support from Moscow and the vast majority of locals have Russian citizenship.

Interfax quoted the assistant commander of Russia's peacekeepers in South Ossetia on Wednesday as saying military jets flew eight missions over the region after taking off from the Georgian city of Gori on Tuesday evening.

"The appearance of warplanes in the conflict zone is a rude violation (of existing agreements)," said Vladimir Ivanov, assistant commander of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia.

South Ossetians say Georgian forces have been firing on their villages, forcing the evacuation of women and children into Russia. Weekend clashes in the region killed several people and fuelled fears Georgia was preparing to strike.

Georgia rejected the allegations Tbilisi is behind the increased violence.

Russia has peacekeepers stationed in South Ossetia and says they are needed to avert a new war, though Tbilisi wants the Russians replaced by an international force, saying Moscow's troops are not impartial.

Last month Russia sent its warplane to fly over South Ossetia in a move it said was needed to discourage Georgians from striking the separatists. Georgia has denies such plans.

(Reporting by Conor Sweeney and James Kilner; Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze and Matt Robinson in Tbilisi, Susan Cornwell in Washington, and Oleg Shchedrov in Moscow, editing by Mary Gabriel)