Russia warns Georgia for detaining Russian 'spies'

MOSCOW, Sep 28 (Reuters) Russia warned Georgia today that it would use every means available to free Russian officers who were detained in Tbilisi on suspicion of spying.

Georgian police and guards yesterday surrounded the regional headquarters of Russian troops in Tbilisi, and Georgia said it had arrested four Russian spies.

In Georgia, Rustavi-2 television said two further people had been detained last night on the same charges. But Interior Ministry officials were not available to confirm this.

''We have demanded the immediate release of our citizens and we will achieve this with all the means available to us,'' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.

''This cannot be seen in any other way but as the latest example of an anti-Russian policy,'' said Lavrov, speaking in Sakhalin in Russia's far east, Interfax reported.

The headquarters controls two Russian bases -- relics of Soviet times -- that still exist in Georgia, but whose withdrawal is under way.

But its presence in the eastern part of the Georgian capital continues to be an irritant for the pro-Western leadership of President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Moscow has watched with dismay as Georgia under Saakashvili has voiced aspirations to join NATO and the European Union.

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said the detained Russian officers were working for Russian military intelligence.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov threw his weight behind Lavrov, saying Tbilisi was seeking to provoke Russia with invented accusations. He said Russia's reaction would be ''fitting''.

REUTERS SAM SSC1249