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MOSCOW, Thursday (AFP)

President Vladimir Putin threatened to send Russian troops into Georgia's lawless Pankisi gorge without Georgia's permission, saying the region could well be sheltering not only top Chechen "terrorists" but also some of those who carried out last year's attacks on the United States.

The statement, issued on the first anniversary of the attacks on the US, brought a stinging response from the Georgian capital Tbilisi, where Deputy Security Minister Irakli Alassania said his country would consider any Russian intervention to be an act of war.

"The Georgian authorities will not tolerate Russia settling the Pankisi Gorge issue by the use of force," he said.

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, emerging from emergency talks with top cabinet members, described the Russian statement as "hasty".

"In a large part, this statement does not correspond to reality. It does not speak about the source of the problem, and that is Chechnya," he said.

"We have sent soldiers to the gorge, but there are no more armed rebel groups there," he added.

Putin said Russia had a right as a member of the United Nations for "individual or collective self-defense" from Chechen attacks, which have been repeatedly launched from Georgia's northern territory.

"None of this will be necessary - no measures or special operations will be needed - if the Georgian leadership is able to control its own territory, and follow through on its international obligations to fight against international terrorism," he said in televised remarks.

Putin further asked Russia's general staff to present a report on the feasibility of staging precision strikes on targets in Pankisi, which lies near the border of the separatist Russian republic of Chechnya.

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