Two Russian planes evacuated approximately 80 embassy personnel and family members from Georgia on Friday, an embassy official said, as a spying row deepened and Western defense ministers called for calm.
Moscow ordered the partial evacuation after Georgia arrested four Russian officers and accused them of spying on military installations in the strategic Caucasus country.
A Tbilisi court on Friday ordered that the arrested officers be detained for a further two months pending investigation, Georgia's Rustavi 2 television reported, although prosecutors confirmed the measure against only two.
But Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili said he did not rule out returning the four to Moscow.
"There have already been similar precedents in international practice when foreign citizens without diplomatic status and held in a similar situation have been expelled from the country," he said on Georgian television channel Imedi.
Russia angrily denounced the officers' arrests, called for their release and urged the UN Security Council to take action to restrain Georgia.
The US urged Russia and Georgia to find a diplomatic solution to the dispute, while the State Department rejected the Russian call for the issue to be taken up by the Security Council, with spokesman Sean McCormack saying "it's an issue that is best and most properly resolved between two neighbors."
"On both sides, we would just urge them to put the events in the proper context," McCormack said, adding that Washington had been having "diplomatic contacts" with both governments.
Russia's envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, accused Georgia of "serious provocations," while Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained on Thursday that "the party of war" was getting the upper hand in Tbilisi.
Russian embassy spokesman Mikhail Svirin said that the evacuation was justified as the "security threat is credible."
Arriving for consultations in Moscow, Russia's ambassador to Tbilisi, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, said further personnel would be evacuated from a military base on the Black Sea coast at Batumi, the ITAR-TASS news agency said.
Saakashvili denied there was any threat to Russian personnel, saying "there are no kind of threats to the security of Russian families in Georgia as our country acts strictly in accordance with international agreements."
Saakashvili held phone conversations on the situation with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Karel De Gucht, his press office said.
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said that Russia was stepping up military activity near the sea border and accused Moscow of "saber-rattling."
Relations between Russia and the ex-Soviet state have been tense at various times for two centuries.
They have worsened significantly since 2003, when the Rose Revolution swept US-educated Saakashvili to power in Tbilisi and he vowed to lead Georgia away from Russian influence and towards the West.
Meeting in Slovenia on Friday, NATO ministers called on Russia and Georgia to calm tensions.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer "called for moderation and de-escalation [on the part of] all partners" after a meeting that was also attended by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld echoed the call for calm, saying the confrontation was "a subject of concern."
But speaking to reporters, Ivanov said: "Georgia has chosen a military approach to solve issues in Abkhazia and North Ossetia -- this is the heart of the problem."
Georgian police maintained a cordon around a Russian military office in Tbilisi, demanding the hand-over of another Russian officer wanted by Georgia on suspicion of spying.
Russian ambassador Kovalenko denounced video footage shown on Georgian television that was said to prove the arrested men's guilt, saying it was "very unclear" and contained "no facts that would prove the officers' guilt."
The row follows Russian anger at Georgia's growing links to NATO and in particular an announcement on those links by the alliance last week.
NATO said that it was starting "intensified dialogue" with Georgia over the country's possible entry into the alliance.
Adding to tensions, Saakashvili on Wednesday visited the Kodori gorge, which overlooks the Russian-backed breakaway region of Abkhazia, after Georgian forces dislodged a local militia leader there this summer.
Saakashvili said the restoration of central power in the gorge would lead to the return of Abkhazia proper to Georgian control and announced that the gorge would henceforth be known as Upper Abkhazia.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese