Georgian Official Denies FSB Charges Of Al-Qaeda Ties

TBILISI -- A Georgian official has denied accusations by Moscow that Tbilisi has cooperated with Al-Qaeda and other Islamic insurgents in the North Caucasus, RFE/RL's Russian and Georgian services report.

Aleksandr Bortnikov, the director of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), said that Georgia's secret services assist Islamic extremists in the Russian republics of Daghestan and Chechnya in the North Caucasus by providing them with fighters, weapons, and ammunition.

Georgian parliament speaker David Bakradze called Bortnikov's statement "groundless" and stressed that there are no insurgents or armed extremists on Georgian territory.