A convoy of 500 Georgian soldiers headed to a volatile mountainous region Tuesday near the breakaway province of Abkhazia to disarm a local militia force, Georgia's Imedi television channel said.
The convoy made up of several dozen armoured cars was intended to counter a defiant local leader, Emzar Kvitsiani, who heads up a militia force in the Kodori Gorge estimated to number up to 400 men.
"We refuse to obey the authorities. We will not allow a single armed person to step onto our land. Everyone will be repelled," Kvitsiani said in comments broadcast on Rustavi-2 television on Sunday.
Authorities in the unrecognised separatist province of Abkhazia, which controls part of the Kodori Gorge, said they were putting their troops on alert.
"Around 800 soldiers… have been put on high alert," said Anatoly Zaitsev, Abkhazia's deputy defence minister.
Georgian members of parliament accused Kvitsiani of being an agent provocateur with close links to separatist authorities in Abkhazia and the Russian army, which has peacekeeping troops in Abkhazia.
"We have information that Kvitsiani actively communicated with the Russian peacekeeping force command and with Abkhaz troops in recent days," Giga Bokeriya, a local deputy, told AFP.
The Kodori Gorge militia, known as "Hunter," was set up to defend the area's mountain villages in 1992 during Abkhazia's war to break off from control by Georgia.
Abkhazia now considers itself independent following the defeat of Georgian forces after a conflict that killed thousands and created around 250,000 refugees.
