Russia on Tuesday called on Georgia to extradite hundreds of Chechen rebels suspected to be based in the former Soviet republics, as Moscow's already strained relations with Tbilisi plunged to a new low.
Georgia infuriated Moscow on Monday by declaring its readiness to station NATO troops for a potential attack on Afghanistan in reprisal for last week's terrorist strikes on New York and Washington.
Russian officials had earlier stated that NATO did not have the authority to station its troops in former Soviet republics.
In apparent retaliation for Tbilisi's statement, the Russian foreign ministry Tuesday issued a terse diplomatic note to Georgia, accusing the republic of harboring "terrorists" who have been waging a two-year separatist war against federal troops in Chechnya.
"Despite numerous Russian requests, not a single one of the hundreds of terrorists (based in Georgia) has been extradited," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement.
"It is time for Georgia to join the fight against international terrorism, not just with declarations but with deeds," the statement concluded.
Georgian authorities have admitted that several hundred Chechen fighters may have slipped into their republic in the course of the war, but have refused Russian requests for joint policing of the Georgia-Chechen border.
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has said that his country is providing humanitarian refuge to civilians from the Chechen war.
At the same time, however, Shevardnadze has been openly angling to link his Caucasus republic with NATO despite furious Russian protests.
Russian officials meanwhile claim that the Chechen rebels are funded by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the probe to find who is responsible for last week's US strikes and who is currently hiding in southern Afghanistan -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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