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Georgia nixes Russian inspection request

TBILISI, Georgia, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Former Soviet republic Georgia has refused to let Russian military experts inspect military installations on its territory, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

"There are no guarantees that Russia will not attempt again to conduct aggressive actions and to use information obtained during the inspections to harm Georgia's national interests," the ministry said in a statement.

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Moscow had no immediate response.

Russia requested Monday and Wednesday for permission for its experts to evaluate and verify Georgian military installations in accordance with a 1999 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe document on confidence and security-building measures, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported.

OSCE is key trans-Atlantic security and democracy group created during the Cold War.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also ordered Moscow on Monday to introduce economic sanctions against countries supplying weapons to Georgia.

The decree did not say what sanctions Russia might impose.

Russia and Georgia fought each other for five days last August after hostilities between Ossetian separatists and Georgian armed forces evolved into a full-scale war between Georgia on the one side and Russia, Ossetian, and Abkhazian separatists on the other.

Russia later recognized breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations, worsening Moscow's already strained relations with the West.

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During the conflict, Russia accused Georgia of receiving arms from other countries, including former Soviet republic Ukraine.

Moscow has called for an international arms embargo against Georgia.

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