Russia threatens Georgia over 'spy' claims

A spy scandal between Russia and its former imperial vassal Georgia evolved into a dangerously volatile situation yesterday, taking relations between the two countries to their lowest level since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The row erupted on Wednesday when Georgia arrested four Russian army officers and an NCO and accused them of forming a spy ring bent on undermining the country's pro-Western government.

Moscow furiously denied the allegations and yesterday demanded the release of its personnel, calling Georgia's actions "a complete outrage".

In a sign of how seriously Moscow is taking the situation, it withdrew its ambassador to Georgia, started evacuating officials and their families, and stopped issuing Russian visas to Georgians.

Sergei Mironov, the chairman of Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, yesterday warned that the unfolding row could lead to war as nationalists demanded Russia get tough with a country it believes is being propped up by its old enemy, the United States.

Visibly shaking with anger, the Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, told Russian state television of a separate incident in which he claimed seven Russian servicemen had been savagely beaten by Georgian law enforcement officials in an unprovoked attack.

"These acts are an open attempt to provoke, with a hysteria that is customary for the Georgian leadership, the Russian Federation to inappropriate action.

"All of this is aimed at provoking the situation and raising the degree of tension to the maximum level in order to deflect attention away from problems that exist in Georgia."

Mr Ivanov, who is one of a handful of men tipped to succeed Vladimir Putin as president, also made a gibe designed to remind the world that it was Georgia that spawned the Soviet despot Josef Stalin.

"The climate in Georgia reminds me of the year 1937," he said in a reference to Stalin's purges and arrests of his enemies. "I would not be surprised if the Georgian side accuses Russian servicemen of an attempt to steal the sun and the sky." Moscow said it would seek to discuss Georgia's recent behaviour at the United Nations Security Council, branding Georgia "a bandit state".

Meanwhile, Russia's military headquarters in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, was ringed with Georgian police intent on arresting another purported Russian spy said to be cowering inside.

Russia has two military bases in Georgia as a hangover from the Soviet era; both are due to close in 2008.

Mikhail Saakashvili, the Georgian President, dismissed Moscow's sabre-rattling as "hysteria" and told his country that any nation would have acted in the same way as his.

"Georgia is acting just like any other democratic state would do, such as Britain, Poland, the United States or any other country," he said.

His officials produced documents they said showed that the arrested Russians were spies and had been complicit in a recent bomb attack that killed three police officers and injured 23.

This latest incident follows the mass detention of opposition politicians who were alleged to be plotting a coup d'etat against Mr Saakashvili, with Moscow's support.

Russia's relations with Georgia have deteriorated since Mr Saakashvili came to power in the so-called "rose revolution" of 2003, promising to take the small former Soviet republic out of Russia's orbit.

Since then, he has angered Moscow by trying to take his country into Nato, and by trying to seize back control of two rebel regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, that are run by pro-Russian forces. Russia has banned Georgian wine and mineral water, the country's main exports, and offering support to the rebel regions.

A history of tension

* 1801: Tsar Paul 1 incorporates a Georgian kingdom into Russian empire

* 1803-78: much Georgian territory is annexed

* 1918: Georgia declares independence

* 1921: Red Army enters Georgia and it is incorporated into Soviet Union

* 1991: Georgia declares independence from USSR. Country's first president is overthrown in a coup allegedly backed by the Russian military. Civil war follows until 1995.

* 1991: South Ossetia protests at being sucked into Georgia's orbit. Conflict ensues until Georgia backs down in face of Russian pressure

* 1992-93: 250,000 Georgians driven out of Abkhazia during war that achieves region's de facto secession from Georgia

* 2003: Mikhail Saakashvili comes to power in Rose revolution

* April 2006: Russia bans import of Georgian wine, perhaps as punishment for Georgia's Western course

* September 2006: Georgia arrests four Russian 'spies' sparking full-scale international incident