Russia and Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia agreed to visa-free travel Monday, provoking outrage from Georgia.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his South Ossetian counterpart, Murat Dzhioyev, signed the deal in Moscow as part of a bilateral friendship and cooperation agreement signed in September 2008, South Ossetia's representative office in Moscow said in a statement.
Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said the treaty contradicted international laws. She also called it a "cynical step," accusing Russia of forcing South Ossetians to obtain Russian passports in recent years, Gazeta.ru reported.
Lavrov told reporters that Russia would seek the representation of South Ossetia and Georgia's other breakaway province of Abkhazia in the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe, Interfax reported.
Moscow recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where most residents hold Russian passports, after a brief war with Georgia in August 2008. Only a handful of other countries recognize the two regions as sovereign countries.
Georgians are required to obtain visas to visit Russia, a requirement that went into force amid deteriorating relations between Tbilisi and Moscow after the election of President Mikheil Saakashvili in 2003.