Mutineers crank up tensions between Georgia and Russia

GEORGIA'S fraught relationship with Russia came under renewed strain when the former Soviet republic charged Moscow with involvement in an attempt to overthrow its leadership 24 hours before the start of a contentious Nato exercise.

The government of President Mikhail Saakashvili, which led the country during a brief but damaging war with Russia last year, wasted little time in accusing the Kremlin of being behind a mutiny on Tuesday, during which a tank battalion refused to take orders.

"The plan was co-ordinated with Russia, at a minimum to disrupt Nato military exercises and at a maximum to organise a large-scale military rebellion in Georgia," said an interior ministry spokesman. "We have information that the rebels were in direct contact with Russians, that they were receiving orders from them, that they were receiving money from them."

Speaking after visiting the Mukhrovani military base to talk to rebels, Mr Saakashvili said they had planned to instigate a widespread rebellion, but the "situation was now calm," and all other units had remained loyal.

The Georgian government said that the rebels had laid down their arms without a shot being fired and the ringleaders were being arrested.

Tbilisi's eagerness to blame Russia for the mutiny, which will add further vitriol to the poisonous relationship between the two countries, provoked a stinging and furious counter attack from Moscow.

"Georgia's latest accusations against Russia demonstrate the sick imagination and irresponsible behaviour of the Georgian leadership," said Russia's deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin.

"What is going on today is what we have always feared: The Georgian leadership is trying to shift their domestic political problems on to Russia and Russia's armed forces," he added, highlighting internal political tensions in Georgia . "Instead of dialogue inside the country, the Georgian leadership tries to make absolutely delirious accusations against Russia."

Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to Nato, said: "Georgia today is in the hands of sick people who write the scenarios themselves, act them out themselves, make a movie and then show it to society in order to intimidate it."

The possibility that the Georgian government may have orchestrated the rebellion to undermine opposition to its rule also struck a chord with Mr Saakashvili's opponents.

With the president facing determined calls for his resignation, David Gamkrelidze, from the New Right's party, described the rebellion as nothing more than a "theatrical show staged by Mr Saakashvili, while another opponent of the president, Neno Burdzhanadze, called news of the rebellion "absurd."

Widespread confusion over who was responsible for the alleged coup received further impetus after the Interfax news agency quoted the rebellion's apparent leader an hour before the government announced the mutiny.

Vice-Colonel Mamuka Gorgishvili, said that "the battalion will not engage in any aggressive actions" and that it was confined to barracks.

Referring to the ongoing political dispute in his country, he said "one cannot calmly view the process of the country's disintegration".