MOSCOW, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Georgian Foreign Ministry slammed high-ranking Russian officials on Sunday as threatening "to use force" following Georgian authorities' detention of four Russian military officers, the Interfax news agency reported.

    "Our opinion is that this warlike rhetoric, constantly voiced by the defense minister of the Russian Federation and other high-ranking officials and representatives of the upper level of the executive branch of power in Russia, can be described as an explicit threat to use military force," the ministry's Information and Press Department said in a release.

    The Russian army's planned sea and ground maneuvers, as the Georgian authorities believe, in the immediate vicinity of Georgia's borders provide grounds for such conclusions, the release said.

    "The international community will give an appropriate assessment of Russia's actions and call on it to refrain from such steps that are unacceptable in any civilized society," it said.

    Russia had temporarily suspended its planned withdrawal of troops from the South Caucasus on Saturday amid a growing row over Georgian authorities' detention of four Russian military officers.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered on Sunday the Defense Ministry to go ahead with the withdrawal of Russian troops from bases on Georgian territory in compliance with the action plan, the president's press secretary Alexei Gromov said.

    Georgian security forces detained five Russian officers on Wednesday, which triggered strong protest from Moscow.

    The Georgian Interior Ministry confirmed the release of a Russian serviceman earlier on Friday and the City court of the Georgian capital Tbilisi ordered keeping the other four accused in custody for two months on charges of espionage.

    Russian ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko was recalled on Thursday and went back to Moscow with Russian personnel from the country on Friday. Enditem