Russia Caught in Web of Espionage
// Four Russian officers arrested in Georgia
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili announced yesterday that Georgian special services have uncovered a spy network in Georgia coordinated by Russian intelligence agents. Four officers of the Russian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Department and 11 Georgian citizens allegedly working for them were arrested yesterday in the second half of the day. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin called the arrest a provocation in a harshly-worded statement and demanded the release of those arrested.
The Georgian police came to the headquarters of the Russian Group of Forces in the Transcaucasus in Tbilisi but did not enter it, since the building has diplomatic immunity. They surrounded the building and checked the documents of all who entered and left it. The siege lasted several hours. At first, the Georgian refused to explain the point of their activities. In the evening, Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili held a press conference at which he announced that “the counterintelligence department of the Interior Ministry arrested four officers of the Main Intelligence Department, military at the Russian Group of Forces in the Transcaucasus, on charges of espionage.” He said that their network operates throughout the country. Two of the accused, Lieut. Col. Alexander Saava and Lieut. Col. Dmitry Kazantsev, were arrested in Tbilisi, and two more, Capt. Alexander Zagorodny and Lieut. Col. Alexander Baranov, were arrested in Batumi. All of the 11 Georgian citizens arrested for criminal ties with Russian intelligence operated inside Georgia gathering information on the Georgian Army and military programs, the minister added.
The reason the Russian Group of Forces in the Transcaucasus headquarters was surrounded by the police was that another suspect, Lieut. Col. Konstantin Pichugin, had taken shelter within the building.
Georgian law enforcement claims that the arrestees were not only engaged in espionage, but were involved in acts of terrorism in Georgia as well. Merabishvili said that the leader of the spy network is thought to be Russian military intelligence Col. Anatoly Sinitsyn, whom the Georgian also consider the organizer of the terrorist act in Gori on February 1 of last year, when an explosives-laden truck exploded near that city's police station. Three people were killed and 27 wounded and the police station was partially destroyed.
Georgian authorities also say that the arrestees had contact with supporters of opposition Justice Party leader Igor Giorgadze who were arrested at the beginning of the month on charges of preparing a coup d'etat. One of those Justice leaders, Jemal Gogitidze, told Kommersant that the charges were fantastic. “They did it to compromise our movement,” he said.
Shortly after Merabishvili's press conference, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Georgian Ambassador in Moscow Irakly Chubinishvili for an explanation. A Defense Ministry source told Kommersant that the Russian officers arrested were not on the staff of the Group of Forces in the Transcaucasus but had come to Georgia as part of the General Staff group overseeing the withdrawal of Russian forces from that country.
Vladimir Novikov, Tbilisi; Vladimir Solovyev, Fedor Maximov, Ivan Safronov
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 28, 2006
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