MOSCOW, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Georgia will not be frightened by "the threat of new economic sanctions," Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said on Sunday.

    Saakashvili was interviewed in the Black Sea city of Batumi by a group of Western journalists Sunday night, who went to Georgia to cover the current events in the country and the situation in Georgia-Russia relations, the Itar-Tass news agency reported on Monday.

    "Georgia is accustomed to various economic sanctions and problems, created by the Russian authorities, and the Georgian people are successfully coping with the arising economic problems.This is why we cannot be intimidated by the threats of new sanctions," Saakashvili said.

    The Georgian president described as "excessively sharp and inadequate" Russian authorities' reaction to Georgia's arrest of four Russian officers, charged by Georgian law enforcement authorities with espionage.

    However, Saakashvili was sure that Russia would not use military force against Georgia. "I don't think Russia will take such a rash step as to use military force against Georgia."

    In the meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the actions of the Georgian leadership as "an act of state terrorism" during his Sunday meeting with the permanent members of the Russian Security Council.

    "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 into a Georgian jail," said Putin.

    "This is a sign of the succession to the policy of Lavrenty Beria, both inside the country and on the international scene," hesaid.

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