Russian reports say the United States is giving Georgia more than three-million dollars in aid to refugees from the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

The Georgian President, Eduard Shevardnadze, has said thirty-five-thousand people had sought refuge in the government-controlled parts of Georgia after renewed fighting in Abkhazia last month.

The Interfax news agency, quoting an American official on a visit to Georgia the special advisor to the Secretary of State on newly independent states, Steven Sestanovic, said United States is also ready to help Georgia protect its borders.

But the official said it would be impossible to replace the Russian peacekeepers in the Abkhazian district Gali where the recent fighting took place.

The United States will this year give Georgia one-hundred-and-sixty-million dollars worth of assistance.