Russia urges Georgia to halt clashes in regions

By Dmitry Solovyov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia urged Georgia on Friday to guarantee with a legal document that its armed forces would not use force in its breakaway regions, after clashes between soldiers and separatists killed two people in South Ossetia.

Moscow demanded a peace pact after the mobilization of reservists by the separatists, who threatened to use heavy weapons against Georgian forces after the two people were killed in heavy exchanges of fire overnight.

Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions broke away from central rule during wars against Tbilisi during the 1990s. Russia, which has peacekeepers in both unrecognized republics, has provided moral and financial support for the rebels.

Since the start of the year Abkhazia, the bigger of the two breakaway republics, has been the main source of tension but this week clashes between Georgian armed forces and separatists have broken out in South Ossetia. The region is 100 km (60 miles) north of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

The separatists said 11 people were also wounded in the clashes, most of them civilians. Georgian authorities said there were no dead or wounded on their side.

"We are deeply concerned by the recent events in South Ossetia," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agency reporters during a trip to Turkmenistan.

"We call for a halt to any provocations, any actions that may trigger further aggravation of the conflict."

He said that in public Tbilisi said it wanted peace "but by a strange combination of circumstances all this is accompanied by a sharp flare-up in tension."