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| Unarmed Georgian policemen lined up outside Russian Troop Headquarters in Tbilisi. September 28, 2006. |
The Russian Embassy in Tbilisi has reportedly stopped issuing Russian visas to Georgian citizens.
Georgia arrested four officers and eleven Georgian citizens on September 27, accusing them of trying to obtain information about Georgia’s NATO integration programs, military procurements, opposition parties, NGOs, ports and railways. Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili alleged that the group of Russian intelligence operatives was plotting “serious provocations.” The Interior Ministry disseminated footage showing the arrest of the four Russian officers.
Meanwhile, unarmed Georgian policemen continue to surround the headquarters of the Russian Troops in the Trans-Caucasus (GRVZ) in Tbilisi. The Georgian side is demanding that an additional Russian officer, who they say is located in the GRVZ building, be handed over on charges of espionage.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Moscow not only insists on the release of Russian officers, but it also will “make a concrete conclusion based on the policy pursued by the Georgian leadership.”
He added that Georgia is staging incidents in order to justify its intention to provoke “more serious conflicts.”
“These intentions are already clear – the forceful resolution of the situations around South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.
He also said that Russia will seek a discussion of the situation in Georgia and Tbilisi’s anti-Russian stance at the UN Security Council during the discussion of a draft resolution on Abkhazia in October.
“In respect to Abkhazia, the Georgian authorities are also undertaking more and more provocative steps,” Lavrov said.
Moscow has condemned Georgia’s move on September 27 to establish the headquarters of the Tbilisi-backed Abkhaz government-in-exile, which is denounced by the secessionist authorities in Abkhazia as “the puppet government,” to upper Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov also denied Tbilisi’s accusations, describing the charges against the Russian officers as groundless.
“I will not be surprised if the Georgian side accuses Russian servicemen of an attempt to steal the sun and sky. The climate in Georgia reminds me of the year 1937,” Ivanov said, referring to mass repressions in the Soviet Union under Stalin.
He said that the Georgian leadership is increasing the level of confrontation with Moscow “to its maximum degree.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi, Mikhail Svirin, told reporters they have stopped accepting visa applications from the Georgian citizens as of September 28.
He stressed that the measure applies to “all citizens of Georgia without any exception,” but he did not specify the reason behind the decision.