Many Georgians are relying on bottled gas to try to stay warm

Millions have been suffering the worst winter for decades, without power, with temperatures plummeting to minus 20C.

The outages happened after explosions wrecked a gas pipeline from Russia and bad weather damaged power lines.

Many Georgians have been trying to keep warm around makeshift wood-burning stoves, or queuing for hours to buy kerosene or bottled gas.

"My kids are freezing and my patience is running out," Lia Davitashvili, a Tbilisi resident who has been without gas for a week and electricity for three days, told Reuters.

The Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, has blamed Moscow for the crisis.

Accusations fly

Mr Saakashvili described the unexplained loss of the gas pipeline last Sunday as a planned act of sabotage by the Russian officials.

The Kremlin said his statements were hysterical and outrageous and denied foot-dragging over the repairs to the pipeline. Officials say the repairs are still continuing, refuse to say when they expect supplies to be resumed.

Chechen rebels have been blamed for previous damage to pipelines.

But the BBC's Natalia Antelava in Tbilisi says many of Mr Saakashvili's countrymen agree with him.

Our correspondent says it is widely believed that Russia is simply punishing Georgia for its pro-Western course and its desire to join Nato and rid itself of the Russian military presence.

Georgian officials have promised that the energy crisis will soon be over, but our correspondent says that while transmission lines and pipelines will be fixed, the real challenge will be to fix the damage the crisis has done to Georgia's already tense relationship with Russia.