Residents of Georgia's Black Sea region of Adzharia fear the worst as the standoff continues between the local leadership and the central government. At the main crossing on Georgia's internal border with Adzharia, military patrols have been stepped up. In the regional capital Batumi, a curfew has been imposed, and Russian armored personnel carriers have been seen on the streets. Tension has risen after Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili froze the regional government's bank accounts and has cut off its railway, main sea port and airspace. The sanctions were ordered after Adzharia, officially an autonomous republic, failed to meet a deadline to accept Tibilisi's authority. Adzharia has long been allied with Moscow. Now the mayor of the Russian capital, Yuri Luzhkov, has visited Batumi. He said "I deeply regret that this tension is being fanned up instead of starting talks and calmly saying that this is the point of reference, and what exists today cannot be changed by force." Mikhail Saakashvili has pledged to solve the crisis without bloodshed saying he has been in close contact with "friendly states," including Russia, the United States and Turkey. The confrontation started when Saakashvili, who won a landslide victory in January's presidential vote, was refused entry into Adzharia on Sunday. He said he was visiting to drum up support for the general election at the end of this month. Adzharia's leader Aslan Abashidze has been strongly critical of last year's "rose revolution" when Saakashvili led protests that forced out Georgia's former president Eduard Shevardnadze. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Adzharian paramilitary forces patrol the Choloki checkpoint on the border between Georgia and its restive Adzharia province, Tuesday, March 16, 2004. (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov)