Russia suspends transport, postal links with Georgia

Russian authorities have ordered to suspend all postal, air, road, rail and sea links with Georgia, Russian news agencies reported on Monday.

Russia's Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Communications jointly announced the move after President Vladimir Putin publicly denounced the arrest of four Russian military officers by Georgian authorities as "an act of state terrorism" on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin said that Russian Railways Company will cancel a planned order of purchase for spare parts for electric locomotives from Georgia.

"The Russian Railways Company was going to purchase spares for the direct-current VL-10 and VL-11 electric locomotives from the Ilyinsky railway cars repair works to the sum of about 100 million roubles (around 3.75 million dollars) in the fourth quarter of the current year," Yakunin said.

"In the current situation, the board of directors recommended the top executive of the Company to act in accordance with market principles and to re-orientate the orders to Russian enterprises on the terms, which would be more advantageous for us," he said.

According to a spokesman for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the four Russian officers, charged with conducting spying activities, will be handed over to the custody of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Monday.

Source: Xinhua