Russia warns Georgia against boosting military

Ankara: Russia's Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Tuesday he was concerned by what he called Georgia's efforts to boost its military potential, adding this could have bigger consequences than August's conflict.

"The Georgian side's efforts to increase the military potential is causing concern and I think those initiatives could have bigger consequences than what we saw in August," he told a news conference in Ankara. He did not elaborate.

In a five-day war in August, Russian troops launched a massive counter-attack and took control of large parts of Georgian territory after Tbilisi had tried to retake its rebel South Ossetia region by force earlier in the month.