Georgia moved to defuse spiraling tensions with Russia yesterday by promising to release four detained Russian military officers under a Western-brokered deal.
But Moscow made its first retaliatory move, with reports saying it will suspend transport and postal links, in a step that would likely exacerbate the worst bilateral crisis in years between Russia and the former Soviet state.
The arrests infuriated Russia, which has put its troops in Georgia on high alert, recalled its ambassador and evacuated its citizens.
The RIA-Novosti, ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agencies quoted the transport and communications ministries as saying that all postal, air, road, rail and sea links with Georgia would be suspended. The communications ministry said it could not immediately confirm the reports and the transport ministry did not answer the phone.
Release
The announcement came shortly after Georgia said it would release the four Russian officers, who were detained last week on spying charges, into the hands of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe.
Vano Noniashvili, a spokesman for President Mikhail Saakashvili, said that the four Russians would be handed over to officials from the trans-Atlantic security alliance after a press conference by Saakashvili and the visiting OSCE head.
"Today, after the briefing of the OSCE chairman and the Georgian president ... the four Russian military officers who were detained will be transferred to [the care of] OSCE representatives," he said.
An OSCE spokesman said the organization was acting as a mediator between Georgia and Russia and the four men would no longer face spying charges.
The Russian embassy in Tbilisi said the four officers were to be flown to Moscow yesterday, ITAR-Tass reported.
Ties between Tbilisi and Moscow had already been strained over Georgia's bid to join NATO, and allegations that Russia was backing two Georgian separatist provinces. Moscow denies that claim.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the arrests yesterday as "state terrorism."
"Those who are doing that believe that anti-Russian course of foreign policy meets the Georgian people's interests. I don't think so," Putin said.
Despite the tensions, Putin said Russia would stick to a deal signed last year to withdraw its troops from Georgia by the end of 2008.
The commander of Russian military forces in Georgia said his troops had been put on high alert and ordered to shoot to kill.
A number of senior pro-Kremlin lawmakers urged even stronger measures and Georgian parliamentary speaker Nino Burdzhanadze in an interview published yesterday said that Georgia was counting on international support if the row escalated dangerously.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has charged that the arrests of the officers were aimed at pushing Russian troops out of Georgia so the government could seize control of the separatist provinces.
Tense relations
Russia's long-tense relations with Georgia have worsened since Saak-ashvili came to power, pledging to move the nation out of Russia's orbit, bring breakaway provinces back into fold and join NATO.
Along with some 2,500 peacekeepers in breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia has between 3,000 and 4,000 troops at two military bases in Georgia that it pledged to withdraw by the end of 2008 under a deal signed last year.
In a sign of further Russian punitive measures, Russian parliamentary speaker Boris Gryzlov said the State Duma planned to pass legislative amendments that would allow the government to ban banking operations with certain countries, Interfax reported.
also see story:
Georgia should be the Switzerland of the Caucasus
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the