Russia prepares to deport "illegal" Georgians

MOSCOW, Oct 6 (Reuters) Russia today prepared to deport about 130 Georgian ''illegal immigrants,'' stepping up a vigorous campaign by Moscow to bring its southern neighbour to heel, Russian agencies reported.

''The deportation paperwork is about to be finished,'' a law enforcement source told Interfax news agency. Georgian embassy officials were present during the procedure, he added.

Russian media reported that the deportees would be flown to Tbilisi from a military airport outside Moscow. Authorities would not immediately comment.

In Tbilisi, a Russian embassy official said two Emergencies Ministry aircraft were being sent from Moscow to evacuate about 180 Russian citizens from Georgia and bring them home.

Georgia enraged Moscow by arresting four Russian army officers last week on spying charges. The men were later released but their arrest ignited smouldering tensions between the two states over Georgia's wish to move closer to the West.

Russia reacted angrily to the arrests carried out in a country long under Moscow's control as part of the Soviet Union and before that as a constituent of the Tsarist empire.

It has severed all transport and postal links with Georgia, stopped issuing visas to Georgians, banned key Georgian exports to Russia and raided Georgian businesses in Moscow.

Today's deportations followed President Vladimir Putin's order on Wednesday to tighten up controls on illegal migrants. Up to a million Georgians live and work in Russia, many without permits, and their remittances are an important contribution to a Georgian economy suffering serious unemploymenbt.

Moscow police have closed Georgian-run casinos, raided a Georgian hotel and seized ''illegal'' Georgian wine.

GEORGIA DEFIANT Broadening the campaign, a deputy head of the education department in the Moscow government confirmed media reports that police had contacted schools to look for Georgian children whose parents might be illegal immigrants.

''We are aware of this,'' Alexander Garvilov told Ekho Moskvy radio. ''Our attitude is quite negative. Moscow schools have not done and will not do this job.'' Georgia remains defiant.

Its charismatic and outspoken President Mikhail Saakashvili has dismissed the economic sanctions and vowed to continue his drive for NATO membership.

Saakashvili got an extra boost to as early returns from local elections in Georgia indicated he had won a convincing victory over the opposition.

But the rising tension between Georgia and its giant neighbour has alarmed Europe and the United States.

Diplomats fear that the crisis could spiral out of control, leading to the risk of armed clashes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two regions which broke free from Georgian central control in the early 1990s and favour closer links with Russia.

As an ever-increasing number of government agencies and bodies announced crackdowns targeting Georgians, liberal Russian commentators began to worry that the anti-Georgian campaign was taking on a racist tinge.

Russia's Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika insisted that all the actions were ''being carried out within the framework of the law''; but selective law enforcement is a long-standing Kremlin tactic used against opponents.

''An aggressive anti-Georgian hysteria is gaining momentum,'' wrote liberal commentator Demis Polandov in the daily Gazeta.

''Like dogs that have broken loose, Russian bureaucrats of all ranks have rushed to fight a new 'criminal nationality'. Searches in restaurants, the closure of casinos, the threat of deportation hanging over hundreds of thousands of people - if this is not ethnic cleansing, then I do not know what it is.'' REUTERS SHB ND1532