Tbilisi, Georgia – Georgia released four Russian officers whose arrest on spying charges has angered its giant northern neighbor, but Russia pushed ahead Monday with punitive sanctions aimed at dealing a painful blow to the economically struggling Caucasus nation.
The tension reflected Moscow’s difficult relations with Georgia, which has defied President Vladimir Putin with a pro- Western stance, hosts unwanted Russian troops on its soil and is facing two Russian-backed separatist movements that could flare up in new violence.
Georgia’s agreement to release the men – even as it reaffirmed the spying allegations against them – appeared to be a capitulation that underscored its vulnerability. To many Russians, however, the fact that the former Soviet republic dared detain the men was an affront to Moscow’s prestige and its ability to project power and influence across an area many Russians still call “the near abroad.”
Infuriated by Wednesday’s arrests, Russia has put its troops in Georgia on high alert, recalled its ambassador and evacuated its citizens. And even though Georgian officials announced Monday that the officers would be handed over to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and sent home, Russia’s transport and communications ministries declared that all air, road, rail, sea and postal links with Georgia would be suspended starting today.
Visiting Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, who holds the rotating OSCE chairmanship, urged Russia to respond to the officers’ release by restoring transport and postal links.
In a potentially crippling blow, however, Russian lawmakers scheduled debate this week on a bill that could bar Georgians living in Russia from cabling money home. Russia’s lower house speaker, Boris Gryzlov, said Monday that Georgians in Russia send home $1 billion a year.
