Russia Hits Georgia With Sanctions

Exasperated Georgians crowded at the capital's airport Tuesday, stunned by Russia's move to cut all transport links with the Caucasus nation, while Moscow stood firm on the sanctions against its neighbor despite Western calls for restraint.

The sanctions, in retaliation for Georgia's detention last week of four Russian officers accused of spying, were enacted despite Tbilisi's decision Monday to free them.

CBS News reporter Beth Knobel in Moscow said that, if anything, Russia is ramping up its rhetoric.

At a news conference Tuesday, Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov referred to Georgia as "a state which is hostile to us, a state which doesn't lose an opportunity to say so, which doesn't lose an opportunity to lie, and to humiliate."

After attending the news conference, Knobel reported that Lavrov said Georgia was being emboldened by its close relationship with the West. He said the arrest of the four alleged Russian spies — which Lavrov called a "hostage taking" — was suspect in its timing.

"The Russian officers taken hostages happened immediately after the visit of President Saakashvili to Washington, and immediately after NATO took a decision to invite Georgia to what is called to intensify its partnership," Lavrov said. "I'm not saying this was done at the orders from somebody outside Georgia, but it certainly stimulated Georgians to act as they did. The appeasement does not pay."

Lavrov said he knew that the sanctions imposed by his country would have unintended victims, like travelers now unable to go from one country to another, or people wishing to send mail to loved ones.

"I understand that innocent civilians would also be affected, both Georgians and Russians, and I can assure you that we would be looking into ways to prevent these hardships to the normal people, to the civilians," he said.

Lavrov said Georgia had insulted his country, and Moscow would not lift the sanctions. "One must not feed off Russia and insult it. The Georgian leadership must understand this," Lavrov told reporters.

The punitive measures, which appear aimed at dealing a painful blow to the economically struggling Caucasus Mountains nation, mark the first time Russia has used such pressure against a former Soviet state. They reflect intense Kremlin displeasure with Georgia's pro-Western policies.

The European Union said the Russian retaliation was disproportionate and appealed for calm in the dispute. Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the EU presidency, said both sides had overreacted and warned against any "more acute measures."

"We stressed that in this situation, even if being provoked, one shouldn't become provoked," Tuomioja told Finnish broadcaster YLE from Tbilisi after meeting President Mikhail Saakashvili.

When asked if Moscow's sanctions were disproportionate Tuomioja said, "Yes, they certainly seem like it."

The Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe urged Russia to respond to the officers' release by restoring transport and postal links. The State Department said Monday it encouraged Russia and Georgia to take steps to "de-escalate tensions in the days and weeks ahead."

The sanctions — a suspension of road, rail, air, sea and postal links — took effect at midnight. Over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin had denounced the arrests as "state terrorism involving hostage taking" and ordered his Cabinet to draw up retaliatory measures.

It was not immediately clear how long Russia would maintain the sanctions.

Russia's long-chilly relations with Georgia have steadily deteriorated since Saakashvili came to power following Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution, vowing to take the country out of Russia's orbit, bring breakaway provinces back into fold, and join NATO in 2008.

Saakashvili's course has angered Moscow, which has warily watched the U.S. expansion into what it considered its home turf. Georgia still hosts unwanted Russian troops on its soil and is facing two Russian-backed separatist movements.

In another crippling blow, Russian lawmakers scheduled debates this week on a new bill that could bar Georgians living in Russia from cabling money home. About 300,000 Georgians live in Russia, according to Russian officials, but some estimates put their number as high as 1 million. Georgia has a population of 4.4 million.

Georgians living in Russia send home an estimated $1.5 billion to $2 billion annually — an amount comparable to Georgia's state budget. "These measures will not give the desired results and in the end will hurt Russia itself," Georgia's Foreign Ministry said.

As the sanctions began to bite, flights to Russia from Tbilisi were canceled Tuesday morning, and a morning ferry from the Georgian port of Poti to the southern Russian city of Sochi stayed in its moorings.

In welcoming home the freed Russian officers at a Moscow airport Monday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said their flight could be "the last flight from Georgia this year," the RIA Novosti news agency reported.