TSKHINVALI (Georgia), Nov 11: Georgia's Russian-backed separatist province of South Ossetia prepared today for a controversial independence referendum as Tbilisi's diplomatic crisis with Moscow simmered.

Populated by a mix of ethnic Ossetians and Georgians on Russia's south-western border, South Ossetia has long served as a flashpoint in tense Russian-Georgian relations.

The Georgian authorities have slammed the poll, due for Sunday, and international observers have branded it “counterproductive”, but Russia's foreign ministry upheld the referendum as a legitimate reaction to Georgia's “hard line” policies towards South Ossetia.

Russia openly backs the de facto authorities in South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway region, Abkhazia, and has extended Russian citizenship to the populations of both regions.

Georgia, which accuses Russia of trying to annex the territories, slammed the South Ossetian referendum as illegitimate and has vowed to restore control over the region.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer asserted international opposition to the vote, warning on today that the referendum would stoke regional tensions.

“I join other international leaders in rejecting the so-called 'referendum'and 'elections'” in Ossetia, he said in a statement. “Such actions serve no purpose other than to exacerbate tensions in the South Caucasus region.”

In parallel with the referendum, Sunday will see two sets of presidential votes in South Ossetia: one by the unrecognized government that controls the region, and a separate vote in majority Georgian villages with a separate candidate list.

PLOT AGAINST `PRESIDENT’: The de facto authorities in South Ossetia said they had uncovered a Georgia-backed plot to assassinate the area's unrecognized president Eduard Kokoity.