President Vladimir Putin signed a “strategic partnership” agreement with Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia yesterday, angering Tbilisi, which said Moscow was looking to annex the territory.

Russia and Georgia fought a war in 2008 over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, provoking the worst crisis between Moscow and the West since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Moscow recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent countries following the war and yesterday’s move comes just seven months after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea and threw its weight behind separatists battling in eastern Ukraine.

Putin and Abkhazia’s leader Raul Khadzhimba signed the agreement in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, which sits just across the Russian border from the separatist region.

Georgia’s Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili denounced the move as “a step towards annexation of Abkhazia by the Russian Federation” and urged the international community to condemn it.

Move comes seven months after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea

“The signing of this document will have a negative impact on the security situation in Georgia’s occupied territories as well as in the broader context of European security,” she said, adding that the deal infringed Georgia’s territorial integrity.

Under the terms of yesterday’s accord, Putin said Russia would grant five billion roubles ($111.4 million) to Abkhazia, which has a population of just 240,000.

The agreement envisages developing a “joint defence and security space” and stipulates Russian “protection of the state border of the Republic of Abkhazia with Georgia”.

It also obliges Russia to facilitate “in every possible way” growth of Abkhazia’s international ties and promote its recognition by other countries.

Moscow said it would also ease requirements for Abkhazia residents to obtain Russian citizenship.