In an interview with The Times, a year after the war between the two countries, Mikhail Saakashvili said that Georgia's survival as an independent state threatened Mr Putin's reputation as a strong ruler. Only continued support from the United States and Europe prevented a Russian invasion to install a puppet regime, he warned.
With tensions rising along the front line between Georgia and Russian troops in the breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Mr Saakashvili said that the Kremlin was testing the resolve of the West.
"Putin has to break our neck. He has to fulfil his solemn pledge to hang me by a certain part of the body," he said. Mr Putin told President Sarkozy of France during negotiations to end the war last August that he wanted to hang Mr Saakashvili "by the balls".
"Putin has every reason to go after us and finish the job. But he»s a street guy who»s still afraid of the policeman and this time the policeman called and warned him," Mr Saakashvili said. "But the guy is getting desperate. From his perception there is unfinished business in Georgia. Once you fail to do things you are no longer boss in the neighbourhood."
Amid international concern over the possibility of renewed hostility, President Obama telephoned Dmitri Medvedev, his Russian counterpart, to urge restraint, while Joe Biden, the Vice-President, called Georgia. The European Union also appealed for calm to avoid any repeat of a crisis that plunged relations with Russia to their lowest point since the Cold War.
Mr Saakashvili said that Mr Putin wanted to destroy Georgia to reassert control over the Caucasus region, the critical conduit for pipelines that bypass Russia and carry oil and gas from Central Asia and the Caspian Sea to Europe.
"If our allies step away from us then of course we are lost. For Georgia this is an existential fight for survival," said Mr Saakashvili, 41, who came to power in the 2003 Rose Revolution. "Lost means that Russia will want the Georgian state to disappear. They will look to put the countries of Central Asia and the Caspian under full control, so that not only Georgian statehood but their independence will be destroyed. Then we will get some kind of Soviet Union back. I don't know if all of the countries will have the Soviet anthem but it will be clear that all decisions will be taken in Moscow. That»s how the Russians see it. Putin and his Government have got increasingly intolerant of any kind of independence of these countries. Putin likes the idea of empire."
Mr Saakashvili»s conduct of the five-day war, and the decision to launch an assault on the Ossetian capital Tskhinvali as artillery exchanges with separatists increased last year, has been the focus of strong criticism in Georgia. Opposition parties mounted a three-month campaign of street demonstrations to try to oust the President but they were called off last week. His position now appears secure and opposition leaders accepted an invitation to attend a National Security Council (NSC) meeting on Thursday to discuss the threat posed by Russia.
Eka Tkeshelashvili, the secretary of the NSC, told The Times that Moscow had as many as 10,000 troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, with tanks and heavy weapons. Mr Saakashvili insisted that Georgia would reclaim the two regions despite Russia»s recognition of their independence after the war.
He argued that Ossetians would "jump the fence" and return to Georgia as the nature of Russian occupation became clearer. He hoped to tempt Abkhazia back by investing to improve western Georgia's economy.
Sergei Bagapsh, the President of Abkhazia, and Eduard Kokoity, the South Ossetian leader, said that they would never return to Georgia. Mr Kokoity said that his people wanted unity with Russia.
Georgia and the two regions held ceremonies to commemorate the war. At least 390 people died and more than 30,000 were turned into refugees after South Ossetian militias were accused of burning Georgian civilians out of their homes in the conflict zone.
European Union monitors have stepped up patrols amid fears that recent accusations of mortar and gun fire could turn into a confrontation.
Tony Halpin