Saakashvili cancels Moscow visit

Mr Saakashvili has pledged to bring the breakaway regions under control

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has cancelled a visit to Moscow where he had been due to attend an informal summit of ex-Soviet leaders.

He had hoped to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Georgia's rebel region of South Ossetia.

But Georgian officials say Moscow refused to hold a one-to-one meeting.

Georgia wants Russia to withdraw its troops from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, saying it is backing the rebels. Moscow says its troops are peacekeepers.

Rising tension

Officials in Tbilisi say the visit was cancelled because Georgia's pro-Western leader was busy with a cabinet reshuffle.

Russia says its troops are helping to prevent hostilities

But Georgian commentators have suggested the real reason is that Mr Saakashvili felt nothing could have been gained.

In an interview with Reuters news agency, George Arveladze, the head of Mr Saakashvili's administration, confirmed that Moscow refused to hold a one-to-one meeting between the presidents of Georgia and Russia.

And referring to one of the events leaders were supposed to attend in Moscow, one senior Georgian official said "we're not going to Moscow to see a horse show".

Tensions over the presence of the Russian peacekeepers in Georgia's breakaway regions have boiled over this week, leading to the two countries exchanging mutual accusations and insults, the BBC's Steven Eke says.

The Georgian parliament passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of the Russian troops.

Tbilisi says they are implementing a policy aimed at effectively annexing part of Georgia, pointing to how Russia has issued passports to people who are legally Georgian citizens.

In an emotional outburst, widely reported in Russia, one Georgian MP said this week that the "Russian snake should slither back over the Caucasus mountains to where it came from".

For its part, Russia insists its troops are helping prevent an outbreak of open hostility, pointing to the military build-up Mr Saakashvili has overseen since coming to power in the so-called Rose Revolution at the end of 2003.