In the meantime, the Red Army, upon reaching the Georgian-Azerbaijani frontier, continued to advance into Georgian territory apparently on Ordzhonikidze’s own initiative. Having successfully dealt with the unrest in Tiflis, the Georgian government concentrated all its forces on the border with Azerbaijan and repulsed the Red Army detachments, staging a counter-offensive. The Russian government tried to maintain that this fighting was a local conflict between Georgia and Soviet Azerbaijan.