MOSCOW, Aug 4: Russia and Georgia went on a war footing on Wednesday after Moscow hinted it could resort to military action in response to a Tbilisi threat to open fire on vessels that "illegally" entered the waters of its breakaway region of Abkhazia.

The Russian defence minister said Georgia's leaders were turning into "pirates" while the country's most popular Internet news site, Gazeta.ru, screamed in a headline that "Russian tourists will be shot" in Georgia.

Russian ships frequently take tourists to the separatist region on the Black Sea coast in northwestern Georgia that was a top spot for summer vacations in the Soviet era.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to reunify his fractured republic since toppling the old administration in a "rose revolution" last year. And he has since taken a stern view of Russia's involvement in his tiny and impoverished former Soviet republic that will soon be home to a key pipeline from the Caspian Sea backed by the United States.

"I gave such an order a few months ago and I am repeating it today: all the ships will be sunk, we will fire on them... as happened in the waters of Abkhazia a few days ago," Mr Saakashvili said on Tuesday before leaving for a private visit to the United States.

Georgian coast guards last Friday opened fire on a Turkish ship that entered the Black Sea waters of Abkhazia. Abkhazia's defence chief Vyacheslav Eshba said he would do "everything I can to make sure that the ships arrive safely. If need be, we will use our army for this", ITAR-TASS reported.

Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said "these comments are starting to resemble those made by pirates and in no way correspond to international norms". The foreign ministry in Moscow described Mr Saakashvili's comments as "unprecedented" and warning of a looming war.

"These sort of comments are starting to show that Tbilisi is starting to lose contact with the reality in which the modern world lives," a ministry statement said. -AFP