Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday denounced as an "act of state terrorism" the Georgian measures to continue the detention of four Russian military officers amid a growing row between Russia and Georgia.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    MOSCOW, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday denounced as an "act of state terrorism" the Georgian measures to continue the detention of four Russian military officers amid a growing row between Russia and Georgia.

    "Although Russia keeps following the agreements on the withdrawal of our military units from Georgia, as you know, our servicemen have been seized and put to a Georgian jail," said the president.

    "This is a sign of the succession to the policy of Lavrenty Beria, both inside the country and on the international scene," Putin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying when meeting with the permanent members of Russia's Security Council inthe city of Novo-Ogaryovo.

    Beria is now remembered chiefly as the executor of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of the 1930s.

    "Obviously, they are trying to give Russia a pinch and provoke it. This must be obvious to everyone. They seem to believe that the anti-Russian foreign policy meets the interests of the Georgian people. I do not think so," Putin 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 to keep 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

Related: Putin orders further troops withdrawal from Georgia

    MOSCOW, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered 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 on Sunday.

    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. Full story>> 

Georgia regards Russia's reaction as "threat to use force"

    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. full story>>