Russia’s ambassador to the UN has submitted a resolution in the council urging Georgia to pull out of the Kodori Valley and abandon plans to install an autonomous government there.
In July, Georgian troops mounted an operation in the area which
Abkhazians and their Russian allies saw as a violation of a 1994 Moscow ceasefire agreement, as well as an attempt to take control of the province.
However a similar statement in the UN Security Council failed to garner its support last week due to opposition by the United States.
Heightened tensions
The latest diplomatic row follows Georgia’s arrest of four Russian officers on spying charges last weel, a move which Russian President Vladimir Putin described as "an act of state terrorism".
The Russian officers were handed back on Monday in a Western-brokered deal after Moscow slapped sweeping punitive economic measures on Georgia.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow has no intentions of lifting the sanctions despite the men's release, because of a series of other disputes with the former Soviet republic.
The sanctions include a halt to all air, sea, rail and road transport, as well as postal deliveries and money transfers made through the Russian postal system.
Meanwhile Georgia is angered by Russia's tacit support for rebel Abkhazia, considered by the United States, the European Union and major international organisations as part of Georgia.