With Russia backing breakaway territories, clash echoes cold war
Georgia, emboldened by its strengthening alliance with the US, is increasing pressure on the two separatist territories that have bedevilled it since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
The potential conflict carries echoes of the cold war - Russia backs the separatists in both territories, while the US, since 2003, when a pro-western government took power, has given substantial support to Georgia, including help in training and reforming the military.
In one of the territories, South Ossetia, Georgia is backing a newly emerged pro-Georgia government, while in the other, Abkhazia, it has established a more official government-in-exile in a remote mountainous enclave, which it calls Upper Abkhazia.
Georgia is also funding new development projects like roads, hospitals, police stations, theatres and health clinics in both territories to bolster support for the new governments.
In both cases, it is trying to challenge the authority of the respective de facto governments that have governed Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the early 1990s.