Georgia denies accusations of aiding Al-Qaeda

TBILISI, Oct. 13 -- The Georgian Interior Ministry on Tuesday rejected Russian accusations that the country was helping the Al-Qaeda terrorist group to send terrorists to Chechnya and deliver weapons to Dagestan.

The allegation was "a complete falsehood and misinformation," said Shota Khizanishvili, head of the Georgian Interior Ministry.

He described the claim as preposterous and accused Moscow of stoking tensions, according to Trend News.

Earlier in the day, Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Russian Federal Security Service, accused Georgia of giving training and lending safe passage to Al-Qaeda agents planning terrorist acts in the Russian Caucasus.

"Audio evidence seized from insurgents shows that, together with emissaries of Al-Qaeda, they had contacts with representatives of the Georgian secret services... Through these links, Georgia participated in the training and transfer of terrorists to the territory of Chechnya," Bortnikov was quoted as telling a meeting of the National Anti-Terrorist Committee.

Bortnikov also accused Tbilisi of supplying arms and funding for terrorist activities in the neighbouring Caucasus region of Dagestan.

Tensions remain high between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. They fought a five-day war in August last year, when Georgia attacked South Ossetia to try to retake the renegade region that borders Russia. In response, Moscow sent in troops to drive Georgian forces out of the region.