Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said Wednesday evening that counter-intelligence officers had detained four Russian troops and more than 10 Georgian nationals on suspicion of espionage in a move that is sure to further strain relations between the two former Soviet republics.
The ambassador left the Foreign Ministry, but refused to comment on the situation.
But Merabishvili said the four senior officers - two of whom were named as Colonel Alexander Sava and Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Kazantsev - had been arrested along with their local agents.
"This group had been spying in Georgia for many years and we have information that they planned a serious provocation in the country," the interior ministry said.
Relations between Tbilisi and Moscow have soured in recent years as Georgia has accused Russia of meddling in its internal affairs, particularly with regard to two breakaway regions in Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Health authorities in Russia slapped a ban on Georgian mineral water and wine - two of the country's biggest exports - earlier in the year after concerns were raised that they may be contaminated.
