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Georgia Accuses Putin Of Supporting Separatists

October 1, 2006 -- Georgia has raised the temperature in an escalating spying row with Russia, accusing President Vladimir Putin of supporting the cause of Georgian separatist leaders.

Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili told reporters today that Putin had met the leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Sergei Bagapsh, and Eduard Kokoity, in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on September 30.

A Kremlin spokesman declined to confirm or deny the information.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Tbilisi in the early 1990s, although they remain unreconized.

In televised remarks today, Putin called the September 28 arrests in Georgia of four Russian military officers on espionage charges a sign of the legacy of Lavrenty Beria, an ethnic Georgian who oversaw the Soviet purges of the 1930s that killed millions.

"In spite of the fact that Russia is consistently fulfilling all the agreements we have on removing our armed forces from the territory of [Georgia], in spite of all this, as is known, our military officers were snatched and thrown in jail," Putin said. "This is a sign of the succession of Lavrenty Beria both inside the country and in the international arena.”

"[Georgia's leaders] think that in being under the protection of their foreign sponsors, they can feel comfortable and safe," Putin added.

An EU statement says the bloc's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, encouraged Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to find an early solution to the escalating row in a telephone conversation September 30.

Moscow has pulled out most of its diplomats from Tbilisi in protest and said it had temporarily suspended a pullout of its troops from two Russian bases in Georgia.

The presidents of Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania have called for a diplomatic solution to the escalating row, as have the EU, NATO, and the United States.

(Reuters)

Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org