Georgia president says Russia is threat to regional security

Georgia's President Georgy Margvelashvili speaks to the media after leaving the residence of the late Georgia's former president and Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze, in Tbilisi July 7, 2014. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian President Georgy Margvelashvili said on Tuesday Russia poses a threat to regional security and that its action in Georgia and Ukraine is punishment for their pro-Western stances.

Russia's forces drove deep into Georgia during a five-day war in 2008, and it has signed deals with the Georgian breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia that almost entirely integrates their militaries and economies with Russia's.