Russia on Thursday warned Georgia of not using force in settling its breakaway province of South Ossetia, saying such attempts are "impermissible."  

"Tbilisi should realize that such attempts are impermissible," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

"Georgia has begun military actions, the bloodiest and more large-scale ones that upset the latest agreement," the statement noted.

"Tough measures must be applied to those who have purposefully gone about violating existing agreements and understandings, and it is necessary to return to the sphere of law," the statement said.

Russia's warn came after Georgia claimed earlier on Thursday that its troops had seized some strategic heights around breakaway South Ossetia's main city of Tskhinvali.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told reporters in the capital Tbilisi that Georgia is ready to transfer control over these heights the joint peacekeeping force in an attempt to bring about peace in the region.

"The elevated areas, which have been seized today, enable us to regroup forces in the conflict zone, but we will not do that for the sake of peace," Saakashvili was quoted by Interfax News Agency as saying.

The proposal "is the last chance for peace," he added.

A joint peacekeeping contingent composed of Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian troops have been patrolling the conflict zone between Georgia and South Ossetia since 1992 when South Ossetia won de-facto independence after defeating Georgia in a bloody war.

Georgia accuses Russia of backing the two renegade regions while Russia has called for the settlement of the crisis by peaceful means.

Fighting continued into the sixth straight day between Georgian and South Ossetian troops in contravention of a ceasefire agreement reached on Aug. 13.

Georgian officials said that their troops had killed eight Cossack fighters in capturing the hills.

They also said that three Georgian servicemen were killed in last night fighting.

South Ossetia has refused to bow to the Georgian government and sought to integrate into the neighboring Russia despite Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's pledge to reunite the country by taking the region and another breakaway republic, Abkhazia, back under central control.

The simmering tensions between Tbilisi and South Ossetia erupted in late May when Saakashvili briefly sent troops into the region.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2004)