Tensions increased following the election of Mikheil Saakashvili as Georgian President in 2004, with Saakashvili vowing to restore Georgian control over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia, Ajara and South Ossetia. In 2008 Georgia attempted to wrest back South Ossetia, sparking a war with Russia. Abkhaz forces, backed by Russia, used the occasion to force Georgia out of the Kodori Gorge, thus gaining full control of all the territory of the former Abkhaz ASSR. Following the war Russia recognised the independence of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Abkhaz-Georgian border is currently guarded by the Russian and Abkhaz militaries and has been strengthened since the war, with barbed wire, control towers and other border control infrastructure being built.