Europe News
Georgia to block Russia's WTO bid over aid to rebel areas (Extra)
By DPA
May 16, 2008, 14:49 GMT

Moscow - A Georgian official gave Russia an ultimatum Friday to halt its rapprochement with Georgia's separatist regions or Tbilisi will scupper Russia's WTO aspirations.

'As long as this infringement of Georgia's rights continues, it will be an impedment to Russia's WTO membership,' Timur Yakobashvili, head of Georgia's Ministry for European Integration, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

'The Georgian side will not change its position because we cannot imagine or talk about any trade regime when against Georgia ... there are attempts to annex our territory,' he added.

Georgia has said it is very close to war with Russia over Moscow's support for the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which have been occupied by Russian peacekeepers since civil war ended in 1994.

Escalating mutual accusations over espionage and troop increases on the borders of the rebel regions have ruptured both country's dialogues with international organizations, provoking concerns in the European Union and United States.

Russia's objections to its post-Soviet neighbour's bid for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sparked the current daily rows.

Russia's federal secret service claimed Friday that it had caught a Georgian spy who was working with rebel groups in the Russian Caucasus to incite instability, news agencies quoted intelligence sources as saying.