Russia has put its military bases on high alert in the South Caucasus country and withdrawn most of its diplomats since Georgian authorities arrested five Russian officers they accused of spying last week. One was later released, and the remaining four charged with espionage and remanded in custody for two months.
"After the Georgian presidents' meeting with OSCE Chairman-in-Office Karel de Gucht, four detained Russian officers will be handed over to the OSCE head in the Georgian Prosecutor General's Office," the administration said.
Russia said the detention of the servicemen and the charges against them were a provocation.
"We are very concerned by this latest Georgian provocation when it arrested four Russian servicemen serving in the country," Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said September 28. The Foreign Ministry has recalled the Russian ambassador to Tbilisi for consultations.
Sergei Ivanov, Russia's deputy prime minister and defense minister, called Georgia's accusations against the Russian servicemen "farfetched and idiotic."
The latest diplomatic clash between Russia and Georgia has further aggravated relations between the two countries, which have been volatile in recent years partly as a result of Russia's involvement in Georgia's breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where Russian peacekeeping forces have been stationed since bloody conflicts in the early 1990s.
