Russia Cuts Travel Links With Georgia

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili, right, and Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, the current Chairman of the OSCE, stand as Georgian authorities turn over Russian officers accused of spying, to OSCE inTbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Oct. 2, 2006. The four officers, who earlier in the day had been released from custody and handed over to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, boarded a Russian government plane that was headed for Moscow, Imedi said. (AP Photo / Shakh Aivazov) (Shakh Aivazov - AP)

Even before last week's arrest of the officers, ties between Tbilisi and Moscow were strained over Georgia's allegations that Russia is backing separatists in its breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia has denied it is supporting the regions.

At the United Nations in New York, Russia ratcheted up the pressure by circulating a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would link the future of a U.N. observer mission with demands that Georgia stop "provocative actions" over the Abkhazia region.

The draft is a break with standard practice because it links what would normally be a routine extension of the U.N. Observer Force in Georgia to the recent tensions. The mission's mandate expires on Oct. 15.

That raises the threat that the latest dispute could jeopardize the peacekeeping mission's future. The United States had blocked earlier Russian attempts to condemn Georgia's actions.

In a report released Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said "a new and tense situation" had been created by Georgia's operation in the Kodori Gorge.

The Russian draft urges Georgia to "return to the status quo available before the entry of its units into the Kodori Valley."

Lavrov said the sanctions, which took effect at midnight Monday, were aimed at cutting off illegal flows of money he claimed was being used by the Georgian leadership to increase its military might in preparation for the "forceful seizure" of the pro-Russian provinces.

In a potentially more crippling blow, Russian lawmakers scheduled debates this week on a new bill that could bar Georgians living in Russia from wiring money home. About 300,000 Georgians live in Russia, according to Russian officials, but some estimates put their number as high as 1 million. Georgia has a population of 4.4 million.

Georgians living in Russia send home an estimated $1.5 billion to $2 billion annually _ an amount comparable to Georgia's state budget. "These measures will not give the desired results and in the end will hurt Russia itself," Georgia's Foreign Ministry said.

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Associated Press writers Henry Meyer and Steve Gutterman contributed to this report from Moscow.