Russia to suspend transport links with Georgia as OSCE tries to broker end to dispute

Georgia moved to defuse spiraling tensions with Russia Monday by promising to release four detained Russian military officers under a Western-brokered deal.

Photo: Russia to suspend transport links with Georgia as OSCE tries to broker end to dispute

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.

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 in Europe.

Vano Noniashvili, a spokesman for President Mikhail Saakashvili, told The Associated Press 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 head of the organization.

"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 would be flown to Moscow Monday, 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, reports AP.

President Vladimir Putin denounced the arrests on Sunday 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.