Global General

Georgia arrests 20 suspected of spying for Russia

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-10-30 09:52

TBILISI - Georgian police detained 20 people suspected of spying for Russia, Georgian security sources said on Friday, two years after the ex-Soviet neighbours fought a brief war.

The detainees, all Georgian citizens, were alleged to have formed a spy network and passed secret information to Russia, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

The Georgian Interior Ministry declined to confirm or deny the report.
"We refrain from comments right now. An official announcement will be made at a press conference on November 5," Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said.

Georgia lost its brief conflict with Russia, which began when Georgia's US-trained military launched an assault on the rebel region of South Ossetia, provoking a crushing counter strike from Russia, after months of Russian baiting. Two years erlier, Georgia detained four Russian military officers and 12 other people on charges of spying.

Georgian officials said at the time the detained Russians and Georgian citizens they had recruited had been collecting information on Tbilisi's relations with NATO, as well as on its seaport and railway infrastructure, opposition parties and army. Georgia handed the Russian citizens over to Russia, which called their detention "an outrageous escapade proving the general anti-Russian policy of Georgia's leadership".