RUSSIA/GEORGIA/CHECHNYA: Relations between Russia and Georgia worsened yesterday as rebels fleeing fighting in Chechnya continued to cross the border into Georgian territory.
Georgia has refused to surrender more than 60 Chechen fighters pushed into its territory by a Russian offensive that began late last week. Moscow is enraged that the rebels are free to launch strikes against Russian positions, then dart back across the mountains to safety in Georgia.
In the past two days nine Russian soldiers have been killed and 12 wounded in clashes with the rebels in the southern mountains.
Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded Georgia hand the rebels over this week, but Georgia refused, saying it needed to see proof of criminal wrongdoing.
Behind this reluctance is the fear that Georgia will become a Chechen target if it hands over the men or tries to close down their bases in the Pankisi Gorge, in the north of the country.
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said: "If there are criminals and terrorists among them, then the Russians will have to provide the documents." In turn, Tbilisi has protested about Russian air strikes it says have been made inside its territory.
The dispute has brought to a head a row that has been simmering throughout the three-year Chechen war, with Russia angry that Georgia continues to provide a "safe haven" for the Chechens and, allegedly, units of al-Queda.
Without these bases the rebels would find it much more difficult to keep fighting against Russian forces, but so far Moscow has failed to get permission to cross the border and attack.
A Moscow military expert, Mr Pavel Felgenhauer, says exasperated defence officials want to launch an attack now, before winter snows close in.
"It is obvious that undisciplined Russian troops can only make the situation much worse if they parachute into the Pankisi Gorge," he wrote in the Moscow Times.
In May US units arrived to train Georgian commandos, and provided transport helicopters, to allow them to attack in the Pankisi Gorge. But although American forces are still in the country, neither they nor the local forces seem inclined to take on the rebels.