WASHINGTON — Lira Tskhovrebova flew nearly 6,000 miles to Washington on a mission: The self-described independent activist from South Ossetia wanted to challenge the strong U.S. support for Georgia in its war with Russia over the breakaway region and describe atrocities by Georgian troops.

Backed by an expensive public relations firm, Tskhovrebova lined up meetings with U.S. officials, including staff for Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of a panel overseeing foreign aid. The U.S. government itself paid for an academic event where she plans to speak this week.

What Americans meeting with Tskhovrebova didn't know is that she has ties to South Ossetia's KGB security service.

Georgia says she's a spy. Tskhovrebova ridicules the idea and says she is the victim of a smear campaign. But U.S. officials have become wary of her — questioning who paid for her Washington tour.

Tskhovrebova's trip reflects the high-stakes campaign between Georgia and Russia, each eager to blame the other for their August war and to influence U.S. policy as Barack Obama assumes the presidency.

Georgian intelligence provided The Associated Press with secretly recorded conversations in which Tskhovrebova appears to discuss assignments, money and information with Vasily Guliev, who the Georgians say is deputy director for counterintelligence for the South-Ossetian security agency still known by the Soviet-era acronym KGB.

"I don't have any money left. Yesterday I learned super ... not super ... but very important information completely by chance," she told Guliev during a call in June 2005, according to the recordings. Guliev quickly agreed to meet with her privately.

Tskhovrebova said she did not know Georgian intelligence had been intercepting her calls until the AP showed her transcripts of the conversations. The wiretaps make clear her conversations have been routinely intercepted since at least 2005.

There is no evidence Tskhovrebova had access to secret information, but Guliev appeared interested in her frequent contact with Western organizations.

Tskhovrebova acknowledged she routinely speaks and meets with Guliev, a family friend.

During a television interview, she said she knows Guliev works for the KGB. She denied working for the KGB herself. Her U.S. public-relations handler, Mark Saylor of the Saylor Co., objected to the questions and ordered AP's cameras turned off, while she reviewed transcripts of her wiretapped conversations.

Later, in a statement, Tskhovrebova called the release of the recordings "vicious, false and predictable." She said Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili routinely calls his opponents spies. "It is a charge easily made and impossible to disprove," she said.

South Ossetian KGB officials declined immediate comment, South Ossetian government spokeswoman Irina Gagloyeva said. Gagloyeva said she could not comment on the substance of the allegations because she is not privy to information about he identity of KGB agents.