MOSCOW, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin says Georgia's arrest of 13 alleged spies is a political "farce."
Georgia's interior ministry announced the arrest of the 13, including four Russians, RIA Novosti reported Friday.
"Let's wait and see how much convincing will this political farce be, to give our comments then," Karasin said.
This is the latest in a series of spy accusations between the two countries since they fought a five-day war in 2008 over the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Russia recognized as independent shortly after the conflict.
In 2008 four Russian military officers and 12 other people were detained on charges of spying. All were subsequently handed over to Russia.
In March 2010 a Georgian national and two Russians were sentenced to 11-15 years in jail on charges of treason and espionage by a Russian military tribunal in the North Caucasus.
