Putin denounces Georgia's 'state terrorism'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced Georgia’s arrest of Russian officers as “state terrorism,” but ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from the neighbouring country to continue as planned.

The two ex-Soviet republics traded angry statements in their worst bilateral crisis in years, and the commander of Russian military forces in Georgia said his troops had been put on high alert and ordered to shoot to kill to defend their bases.

“We are ready to thwart any possible attempts to penetrate our facilities using all means, including shoot to kill,” Gen. Andrei Popov, the commander told reporters yesterday.

Moscow, infuriated by Wednesday’s arrest of four Russian officers on spying charges, recalled its ambassador, evacuated its citizens and denounced Georgia as a “bandit” state. A Russian general also said plans for its troops withdrawal from Georgia were suspended. But Putin ordered the Defence Ministry to continue the pullout as earlier planned in an apparent bid to avoid foreign criticism for reneging on earlier agreements.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said today that he has consulted with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the flare-up and that representatives of the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe were coming to Tbilisi for discussions.

However, he aimed to play down the tensions, saying that Georgia had decided against putting its troops on heightened alert “because there was no immediate threat.”

“We are not taking any Russian statements seriously ... the Russians are just flexing their muscles,” he said in an after-midnight briefing with foreign reporters in the Black Sea city of Batumi.

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.

Putin said yesterday in his first public comments on the crisis that the Georgian leadership likened the arrests to the repression of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s henchman, Lavrenty Beria, and denounced them as “an act state terrorism involving the taking of hostages,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

“These people think that under the roof of their foreign sponsors they can feel comfortable and secure. Is it really so?” Putin questioned, inviting top officials to give their considerations. While Putin did not name any names, some Russian lawmakers accused the United States of instigating Georgian authorities’ action.

“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.

The Kremlin announced that later in the week Putin would invite Russian parliamentary leaders for consultations on Georgia.

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. Russian Gen. Alexander Baranov, the commander of the North Caucasus military district, said on Saturday that Moscow was suspending planning for further withdrawals because of the officers’ arrests.

The troops withdrawal agreement has not been ratified yet by the Russian parliament. Gennady Gudkov, a top member of the Kremlin-guided United Russia faction, which dominates the lower house, told NTV television Sunday that the arrests further reduced chances for its ratification.

Saakashvili, speaking at the United Nations last month, accused Russia of “gangster occupation” of both provinces. Russia has dismissed the accusations as lies and said that the peacekeepers’ withdrawal was impossible without the consent of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has charged that the arrests of the Russians were aimed at pushing Russian troops out of Georgia so the government could seize control of the separatist provinces by force.

Russia’s long-tense relations with Georgia have worsened since Saakashvili came to power following Georgia’s 2003 Rose Revolution, pledging to move the country out of Russia’s orbit, bring breakaway provinces back into fold and join Nato in 2008.