Moscow  - Russia announced Friday close cooperation with the United Nations observers in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia in response to international criticism for massing troops in the Georgian conflict zone.

The Interfax news agency cited the Russian Defence Ministry as saying the deployed soldiers were in harmony with international laws by safeguarding peace in Abkhazia.

Georgia called on the United Nations to increase the number of observers in order to monitor the Russian soldiers.

The pro-Western leadership in Tbilisi demanded exact information on the number and disposition of Russian soldiers in the region which Georgia considers its sovereign territory.

In defiance of protests by Georgia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Russian Defence Ministry announced Tuesday an increase in peacekeeping forces to Abkhazia and Georgia's other breakaway region of South Ossetia in response to what Russia called aggressive moves by Georgia.

On Wednesday, Georgia attacked Russia's plans to boost peacekeeping troops in the two breakaway Georgian regions as the start of "full scale military aggression."

Georgia accused Moscow of seeking to "de facto annex" its territory.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia are both Russian-dominated regions of Georgia which fought brief separatist wars in the early 1990s and which still reject Tbilisi's rule.

The Georgian authorities insist that the two regions are its sovereign territory and accuse Moscow of supporting the rebels. Most inhabitants of the two regions hold Russian passports.

In the light of rising tensions between Georgia and its two regions over the past week, Russia decided on Tuesday to send more peacekeeping troops into the breakaway provinces.

That decision was "not wise," even if it was in line with peace agreements, Solana said. (dpa)