Interfax News Agency reports that Georgian officials have accused Russia of establishing a military base in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Interfax quoted Torni Kilanava, spokesperson of the exiled Abkhazian administration, as saying that Moscow has deployed tanks and anti-aircraft artillery in the Ochamchira district of the unrecognized Black Sea region. Interfax said on Sunday that Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Alexander Drobyshevsky has rejected the claim as a "hoax."

South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgian control during a war in the early 1990s. Georgia's government has vowed to bring the regions back under its control.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia have cultivated close ties with Russia, and Georgia accuses Moscow of siding with the separatists.