TBILISI. July 22 (Interfax) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili called on the world community to assist his country in its effort to "fend off the threat of annexation of part of its territory."

"Today, Georgia is a nation a part of whose territory is openly threatened with annexation. No state has undertaken such actions against another state in the last decades," he said.

"This is an unthinkable challenge against the world order, the inviolability of European borders and the principles of international relations," he said.

"In this situation Georgia badly needs friends in the European Union and the rest of the world, their efforts to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Georgian state," he said.