Furious Moscow orders 'shoot to kill'

Infuriated by the arrests of four Russian officers on spying charges, Moscow has put its troops in Georgia on high alert and ordered them to "shoot to kill" to defend their bases in the former Soviet republic. On Oct. 1, Russian president Vladimir Putin, accused Georgia of "state terrorism" and compared the arrests to the repressions of Stalin's secret police chief, Lavrenty Beria. The commander of Russian military forces in Georgia, General Andrei Popov, said Russian law authorizes the use of force to defend bases abroad from aggression. "We are ready to thwart any possible attempts to penetrate our facilities using all means, including shoot to kill," he said. Putin held an urgent meeting with armed forces chiefs, top ministers and the heads of intelligence services to discuss Russia's response to the arrests. "As a result of his meeting... the president termed the actions of Georgia's leadership as an act of state terrorism with hostage taking," the Kremlin said in a statement. Russia has about 4,000 troops at two military bases in Georgia, along with another 2,500 soldiers deployed as peacekeepers in its breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.