Georgian Defence Minister Irakly Okruashvili displayed a Strela missile to television cameras and legislators, saying it had been delivered to the Abkhazian town of Tskhinvali several weeks ago from a Russian military base in Akhalkalaki in southern Georgia.

Reacting to the charge, Russian defence ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov told the Itar-Tass news agency: "A routine inventory was taken on February 8 at all Russian bases. No theft of weapons was reported."

"All weapons on Russian bases are inventoried, including the Strela-2M systems," he added.

Okruashvili said the missile had been sold for 10,000 dollars by one Semen Lekovitch, operational commander of Russian forces in the south Caucasus.

"Strela type weapons can destroy any plane in the sky," he said.

Sedov said the "latest irresponsible declarations from senior Georgian officials about Russian military administration are astounding."

Abkhazia declared its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and fought Georgian forces to defend it before setting up pro-Russian state institutions which Tblisi does not recognise.

Georgia's defence ministry believes that authorities in Abkhazia have 19 surface to air missile systems, 46 Russian tanks, including T-55s, and 5,580 men.

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