Militiamen from rebel South Ossetia have taken control of the disputed Georgian village of Perevi, raising fears that hundreds of villagers will flee their homes, Georgian officials said Saturday.
Perevi, a mainly ethnic Georgian village of about 1,100 people on the western border of South Ossetia, had been under Russian control since the August war with Georgia.
"Today the Russian military withdrew from Perevi and about 50 armed South Ossetian militiamen entered the village," Georgian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Khatuna Iosava told AFP.
There were no reports of violence as South Ossetian forces moved in, Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said, but local villagers were expected to flee after their arrival.
"The Georgian population is under threat and we expect a mass exodus overnight or tomorrow morning," he said.
Russian forces moved into Georgia on Aug. 8 to repel a Georgian military attempt to retake South Ossetia, which has received extensive backing from Moscow.
Under a European Union-brokered ceasefire, Russian forces later withdrew to within South Ossetia and another rebel Georgian region, Abkhazia, which Moscow has recognized as independent states.
Tbilisi had accused Russia of not respecting the ceasefire by keeping forces in Perevi and in the disputed Akhalgori district, an area that was under Georgian control before the war.