Russian officers on spying charge
By Niki Owen,WNS Moscow Correspondent
MOSCOW - Four Russian officers detained in Georgia have been charged with spying, officials in Tbilisi have said. The men were expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing shortly, a Georgian interior ministry spokesman said.
The charges against the Russian officers had been formally filed by Georgian investigators, Georgia's Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Khizanishvili announced. He added that a court in Tbilisi would now consider the issue of preliminary detention of the officers. Georgian police are still surrounding a Russian military HQ building in Tbilisi. They say another Russian military officer they want to question is sheltering inside. A Russian contract serviceman who was detained together with the four officers has been released, Georgian and Russian officials said. Russia is recalling its ambassador to Tbilisi after Wednesday's arrests and is beginning a partial evacuation of its personnel from Georgia. Georgia's president described Moscow's reaction to the arrests as "hysteria".
In a separate development, Russia's ambassador to the UN has called on the Security Council to censure Tbilisi for "dangerous and unacceptable" actions in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region. Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi have deteriorated in recent weeks, since Georgia and the Western military alliance Nato agreed to hold talks on closer relations, correspondents say.
posted by wnsworld @ 11:08 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home