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Russia has advised all its citizens to leave a breakaway Georgian region after protesters stormed the parliament building in Georgia's Abkhazia region.
Issuing the warning earlier this afternoon, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said a "crisis situation" had been created in "friendly neighboring Abkhazia" and that all Russians in the region should leave.
She said citizens planning to travel to Abkhazia - which broke away from Georgia during wars in the early 1990s - should stop.
Protesters in Russia-backed Abkhazia were demanding the resignation of its leader over an unpopular investment deal with Moscow.
In the capital, Sukhumi, protesters used a truck to ram the metal gates surrounding the parliament, then climbed through the windows after destroying the metal bars. Emergency services said at least nine people were taken to hospital.
Temur Gulia, an opposition leader, told the Reuters news agency that protesters initially demanded the government scrap the investment deal - which critics feared would pave the way for wealthy Russian individuals and businesses to buy property in the Black Sea region, costing the locals.
But he said that now they have gone further and want to overthrow the president Aslan Bzhania. The presidential administration said in a statement that authorities were preparing to withdraw the investment agreement.
Olesya Vartanyan, an independent regional expert, said the crisis was the culmination of Russian pressure to get more from Abkhazia in return for its financial support.
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