British troops have been in Georgiaon a secretive training mission at a time when the Georgian government is engaged in a standoff with Russian troops in the separatist enclave of South Ossetia, the British Times newspaper reported on Thursday.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who began his visit to Britain on Tuesday, disclosed that Britain was a vital source of military assistance to his country, the paper said.

"We just had last week joint training of British special forcestogether with the Georgian Army," the paper quoted Saakashvili as saying during his official visit to Britain.

The paper also quoted the British Ministry of Defense as sayingthat a light infantry detachment was taking part with Georgian commandos in an exercise that would last until the end of this week.

According to the paper, Saakashvili also disclosed that BritishGeneral Garry Johnson was permanently based in the Georgian Defense Ministry to coordinate additional military assistance.

The revelation is likely to be seen in Moscow as further evidence that some key member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are deliberately encouraging Tbilisi to challenge Russia's dominance in the region, the paper said.

South Ossetia, a breakaway region on Russia's southern border, won de facto independence from Georgia following a bloody war thatended in 1992. It has repeatedly refused to hold reunification talks with the Georgian central government and sought to become part of Russia.

A joint peacekeeping force, composed of Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian troops, has been patrolling a conflict area betweenGeorgia and South Ossetia since then, but tensions between Georgiaand South Ossetia have mounted in recent months.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who came to power aftera landslide victory in the presidential elections in January, has vowed to reunify the country by bringing South Ossetia and anotherrebel region, Abkhazia, back under control.

Georgia accuses Russia of aiding South Ossetian separatists, but Russia insists that it respects Georgia's territorial integrity and does not support the attempt of South Ossetia, whoseindependence has not been internationally recognized.

Sourcve: Xinhua