Georgia Accuses 20 of Spying for Russia

Georgian police have detained 20 Georgian citizens on suspicion of spying for Russia.

News agencies reported that the 20 were working for the Russian military intelligence service, the Main Intelligence Directorate, known as the GRU.

The Georgian news agency Interpressnews said the suspects were trying to collect intelligence about the procurement practices of the Georgian interior and defense ministries, as well as information about high-ranking officials in the Georgian law enforcement and security agencies.

The Georgian Interior Ministry would neither confirm nor deny the report, but said it would hold a press conference on the detentions next Friday. In Hanoi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he did not know anything about the arrests and said “the matter concerns Georgian citizens.”

Relations between Russia and Georgia, an independent country that once was part of the Soviet bloc of controlled by Moscow, have been strained since a five-day war between them in 2008.

Georgia’s U.S.-trained military launched an assault on the rebel region of South Ossetia, provoking a crushing counterstrike by Russia.

Some information in this story was provided by Reuters.