Moscow/Tbilisi  - European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana arrived in Tbilisi Thursday aiming, he said, to ease "the high level of tensions" over Russia's support for Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Georgia, backed by the United States, has demanded the immediate withdrawal of over 300 Russian troops deployed to Abkhazia, calling it the latest "step toward annexation" of its territory after Moscow stepped up diplomatic ties with the region.

"Russia is a very important player ... but I think that latest measurers that Russia has taken are not intelligent measure, not measure that would contribute lowering of temperature," Solana was quoted as saying by Georgian media as saying Thursday.

The EU leader was to meet with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, before travelling to Abkhazia on Friday for talks with the area's rebel leaders in the capital of the autonomous region Sokhumi.

"I want to get a clear picture and to see how the EU can play a constructive role," Solana said. "For us it will be important that the contact between Tbilisi and Sokhumi continue."

Solana has said the EU hoped for new peace talks to replaced a 1994 UN ceasefire agreement that ended civil war, and left 2,500 Russian peacekeepers patrolling the region.

But Solana specified that a new peace accord would have to include all parties - notably Russia, which has repeatedly declined any change to the current format.

Long simmering tension between Moscow and Tbilisi erupted last month when Russia announced it was strengthened diplomatic ties and boosting troops in Abkhazia in what analysts see as a response to Georgia's aspirations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Last month, Russia claimed it had intercepted a Georgian spy helping rebel cells in the Caucasus, while Georgia accused Russia of shooting down one of its reconnaissance flights.

The escalating accusations were addressed at a session of the UN Security Council following a UN report corroborating Tbilisi's claims that Moscow was behind the shooting of its drone last week.

European Union external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero- Waldner on a visit to Moscow Wednesday said Russia's said Russia's actions could unbalance stability in the Caucasus.

US Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza also travelled to Moscow on Wednesday to push for a new Abkhaz peace accord ahead of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev planned meeting with Saakashvili at an economic conference in St Petersburg Friday.

Russia is angered by Georgian efforts to lobby international support over recent months, and has accused Saakashvili of using the row to distract from internal political problems.

EU foreign policy head Solana met with opposition leaders, who have held mass rallies in protest of the victory of Saakashvili's party at the polls. (dpa)