Top Russian officials lashed out at Georgia on Thursday over its move to detain four Russian officers on spying charges, warning that Moscow's actions would be "adequate."

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking in Sakhalin in Russia's Far East, called the arrests another provocation from Georgia.

"We are really concerned about another provocation Georgia committed by arresting four Russian servicemen performing their duties in Georgia," Lavrov said, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

"This cannot be viewed other than just another manifestation of an anti-Russian policy," he said.

Georgian security forces detained four Russian military officers on spying charges on Wednesday and demanded the handover of a fifth officer.

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili was quoted by Interfax as saying in Tbilisi: "The group had been engaged in intelligence gathering in Georgia for several months." They were mainly interested in Georgia's defense capability, he said.

Merabishvili identified the fifth officer as Lt. Col. Konstantin Pichugin and said he was hiding inside the Russian army's regional headquarters in Tbilisi.

Georgian police cordoned off the headquarters on Wednesday and maintained their presence around the building on Thursday.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Georgia brought up "invented, marasmic accusations" against the Russian officers and vowed Russia's actions would be "adequate and sensible."

Tbilisi's move triggered strong protest from Moscow. The Foreign Ministry summoned Georgia's ambassador to demand the immediate release of the officers. The Russian embassy in Tbilisi on Thursday stopped issuing entry visas to Georgian citizens.

Relations between Russia and Georgia have dipped since President Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in 2003 amid tensions over Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and the Caucasus Mountains nation's warming relations with the West, including with NATO.

Source: Xinhua