Georgian President warns Russian tourists against traveling to Abkhazia

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has once again called on Russian tourists to abide by laws and not to travel to Abkhazia.

"Today Abkhazia is no place for a vacation. It is a zone of war, wherefrom 300,000 Georgians have been ousted. Tourists have nothing to do there," he said at a press conference in Washington after meeting the US President's national security advisor Condoleezza Rice.

According to him, "if Russian tourists continue traveling to Abkhazia they should understand they are intruding on the territory of a foreign state".

"No one can prohibit us to protect our territory. We do not want to attack anyone, but we want to be regarded," Saakashvili said.

"The territory that is soaked in Georgian blood and where their heads were used as footballs is no place for chaise longues of the so-called Russian tourists," he said.

The President announced he had given order to open fire and sink all ships trying to enter Abkhazia bypassing Tbilisi.

"As Georgian boats cannot enter Russia's territorial waters without its consent, Russian boats should not appear at the Abkhazian coast without our permission," he pointed out.

"I want Russian tourists pay special attention to my words. When everything has changed, we have come to terms and this chapter has been closed, we will be able to see Russian tourists in Abkhazia and will welcome them warmly. But if you want to come to Abkhazia today, by a boat from Sochi, get ready to what happened last Saturday, when Georgian frontier guards opened fire against the ship," he concluded.