In response to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s strong-worded statement, the Georgian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on August 27 saying that Moscow “lost the sense of proportion and are making absolutely irresponsible and groundless statements.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced Georgia’s “military rhetoric” and said that Georgian officials’ statements “are not even worth of commenting because of their absurdity.”

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia expresses its extreme concern over anti-Georgian rhetoric of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry’s statement reads.

Tbilisi accused Moscow of “ignoring not only the norms of intergovernmental relations, but elementary rules of conduct, thus expressing undisguised disrespect towards the representatives of supreme authorities of the neighboring sovereign state.”