Georgia's charge that Russian-backed "terrorists" were responsible for a February bomb blast that killed three and injured dozens more is threatening to further acerbate relations between Moscow and Tbilisi, even as Russia begins its historic military pull-out from the South Caucasus state.

On July 25, Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili announced the arrest of three "terrorists" in the breakaway region of South Ossetia and accused the Russian military of being behind "several terrorist attacks" in surrounding territories, including a powerful car bomb that killed three policemen and injured over 25 people in the town of Gori, capital of the neighboring region of Shida Kartli, on February 1. Merabishvili also blamed the group for a series of alleged terrorist attacks in Shida Kartli in the fall of 2004, including the explosion of high-voltage power transmission lines in Gori, a railway line in the district of Kaspi, and a radio station that served Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline personnel in Khashuri district.

In his televised statement, Merabishvili claimed that Colonel Anatoly Sysoyev of the Russian General Staff's Central Intelligence Administration had organized the group of allegedly 120 Russian-trained saboteurs in 2003. On July 17 Georgia's interior ministry conducted a special operations investigation in Avnevi, a Georgian village in South Ossetia, and arrested three residents of Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, in connection with the attacks: Gia Valiyev, Gia Zasiyev and Iosif Kochiyev. An additional six individuals have also been identified as members of the sabotage group and put on a wanted list.

The charges come at a delicate moment for Russian-Georgian relations. On July 30, Russia began to pull out from its base outside the West Georgian town of Batumi, one of two Russian military installations remaining in the country. A minimum of 40 armored vehicles are scheduled to be removed from the Batumi base and a second base in the southern Georgian town of Akhalkalaki by September 1. The withdrawal, scheduled for completion in 2008, has been hailed by international observers as a chance for a fresh start in the two countries' relations, recently characterized by growing acrimony over South Ossetia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia, among other issues.

Alexander Rondeli, president of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, conceded that Georgian-Russian relations might be "poisoned" by the Gori accusation, but added: "We are constantly accused by Russia that we are sheltering terrorists, if one remembers [the] Pankisi Gorge. But now we see that [a] powerful neighbor conducts subversive activities in a weak, neighboring state. This does not look very good . . ."

Some observers are speculating that the accusations of Russia-sponsored terrorism were a strategic move by Georgia to gain international support for Russia's withdrawal from the South Ossetia conflict zone—or, at a minimum, to pressure Russia to remove its heavy hand from the region.

Commenting on such speculation, one Georgian official involved in South Ossetian conflict resolution issues said: "If there were no real proof, Georgia would not point the finger towards Russia. If we point to Russia, it means there is absolutely clear evidence. Maybe we are young, dealing with independence and relations with Russia, but we are not stupid enough to play with Russia. We know their abilities."

On July 26, Georgian television broadcast confessions by two of the suspects. In his statement, Giya Valiyev alleged that Colonel Sysoyev recruited him into military intelligence and said that the Russian colonel was in regular communication with Moscow officials and traveled frequently to South Ossetia. Valiyev said that he had received $1,000 after the Gori attack from Sysoyev, who then returned to Russia.

Russia, however, categorically denies any involvement in the Shida Kartli events. On the day of Merabishvili's announcement, the Russian ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement that "the Russian side has no relationship whatsoever to the said terrorist act. The persons named in the report of the Georgian ministry are neither listed nor work in any official structures of Russia. Moscow is convinced that such insinuations do not serve the cause of normalizing the situation in South Ossetia, nor for that matter, the further development of Russian-Georgian relations."

Two days later, on July 28, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov characterized the charges as "depressingly stupid," news agencies reported. The United States has not yet issued a statement on the Gori charges, but in recent remarks to reporters in Tbilisi, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matt Byrza emphasized that Russia remains a crucial part of the peace process for South Ossetia. "We believe that Russia has to understand that a stable and unified Georgia is in Russia's fundamental interest," Byrza said, according to a US embassy transcript.

Stressing that Georgia is "not interested in creating a confrontation," Georgia's foreign ministry has reportedly submitted documents related to the Gori investigation to Moscow and asked for assistance from Russia in apprehending the remaining suspects. In a follow-up statement on July 26, President Mikheil Saakashvili also invited Russian investigators to travel to Georgia to interview the detained suspects. As yet, Russia has not responded to the offer. The Georgian official involved in the South Ossetian conflict resolution process, however, tagged Russian observance of the May 2005 base withdrawal agreement with Tbilisi as a sign that ties between the two countries are not damaged by the accusation. "You can look at the Russian military withdrawal as a positive example of how our relations are proceeding in a positive way."

At the same time, however, the Georgian leadership shows no sign of backtracking from its accusations. While reaffirming that Georgia does not want a large-scale confrontation with South Ossetia, Saakashvili emphasized that Georgia would not tolerate the existence of "an uncontrolled, dangerous zone . . . where people are armed with terror weapons . . ."

"We are prepared to settle all problems in a civilized way, but we are warning Tskhinvali's de-facto authorities to refrain from provocations, or a response will follow," he stated.

Tensions have steadily escalated in South Ossetia of late, with local Georgian residents threatening to take matters into their own hands after the alleged kidnapping of four Georgians from the conflict zone by Ossetians in early June. Though presumed dead, the four have still not been returned to their families. Adding to the ill will are growing concerns among the local Georgian community that the Georgian government's proposed peace plan for South Ossetia does not take their needs into account.

Vladimir Dzhugeli, chief of Shida Kartli police, however, downplayed the possibility of events escalating out of control around South Ossetia in response to the charges. "We are doing our best to control the situation and prevent increased tension," he stated. A state of alert imposed on Gori following the July 25 announcement has since been rescinded.

Meanwhile, South Ossetian officials have stepped into the fray. During a recent interview with Georgia's Rustavi-2 television news, Boris Chochiyev, Ossetian co-chairman of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission, called Merabishvili's accusations "a dirty lie" and charged that Giya Valiyev "had been trained for days" before making his public confession. Chochiyev, as have other South Ossetian officials, denied all knowledge of Sysoyev as a representative of the Russian defense ministry, though stated that "a person with that name has worked for us." According to the Georgian daily Rezonansi, Sysoyev worked as a military advisor to South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoev from 2002.

Other South Ossetian officials have gone further. In a tit-for-tat style response, Mikhail Mindzaev, head of the South Ossetian interior ministry, linked Georgia to the 2004 terrorist attack in the North Ossetian town of Beslan in southern Russia: "We know that the terrorist act in Beslan was organized from Tbilisi. We know who was meeting whom, when and where in Georgia before the Beslan tragedy." Georgia has denied the charges.

One Western official working on South Ossetian issues was concerned that linking Georgia to the terrorist act in Beslan "will create additional mistrust between the [Georgian and Ossetian] communities." The official added, "Moscow will certainly not step back. It will just make things even more difficult for the Georgians."

Nonetheless, some Georgian analysts argue that the pressure will do little to dissuade the government in its "terrorism" crackdown. Said Rondeli: "The smoking gun is there."