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Georgia calls Russian ban on arms supplies 'overreaction'

January 19, 2009, Tbilisi -- The Georgian Foreign Ministry described on Monday Russia's ban on arms exports to Georgia as being out of sync with reality.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree banning exports of military products and dual-purpose technology to Georgia, the Kremlin press service said on Monday.

"This document, as well as all of the steps taken by the Russian leadership with regard to Georgia, arouses perplexity, to say the least, with their inappropriate nature from the perspective of present-day reality," the ministry said in a statement.

It added that Russia was threatening the international community with sanctions over military supplies to Georgia while it "has for decades supplied weapons to some of the most loathsome regimes that threaten international security and stability in various parts of the world."

Under the document, effective through December 1, 2011, the Russian government is to develop ways to restrict military cooperation with countries supplying Russian or Soviet-made arms to Georgia.

Countries or individuals found to be in breach of these regulations will face economic and financial sanctions.

The Kremlin said the decree had been signed to protect Russia's national interests.

Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi have been strained since Georgia attacked South Ossetia on August 8 in an attempt to regain control over the breakaway republic, which split from Georgia in the early 1990s. In response, Russia launched a military operation to eject Georgian troops from the region. (RIA Novosti)