TBILISI, July 22: Russia has begun to cut off gas supplies to the Georgian capital Tbilisi amid an escalating row with its neighbour over the pro-Moscow separatist region of South Ossetia.

Tbilisi energy officials confirmed to AFP that Russia's Gazprom energy giant began to limit supplies on Wednesday and that four of the city's regions would be left without gas by Thursday evening.

The Tbilgaz official said Gazprom was demanding payments from the impoverished republic that dated back to January.

"Tbilisi needs 370,000 cubic meters of gas and now we will only be getting 200,000 cubic meters," Tbilgaz's Leval Pertselatse said by telephone.

Georgia is exclusively reliant on Russia for gas supplies and has for years struggled to pay its debts. But the latest delivery cut came amid a growing confrontation between Moscow and Tbilisi linked to South Ossetia - a separatist region that wants to become part of Russia and which the new leadership of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili is trying to win back.

Gazprom has previously cut supplies to Ukraine and Belarus on Russia's western border amid diplomatic disputes with those two former Soviet republics.

The move comes as both Russia and Georgia are building up their military presence in the disputed region.-AFP