Russia urged to lift sanctions against EU

The European Union has called on Russia to lift economic sanctions on Georgia or risk deepening the crisis between the ex-Soviet neighbours sparked by a spying row.

"We do hope that Russia very, very soon lifts these sanctions because sanctions do not, particularly in this case, lead anywhere," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told Reuters in an interview.

Russia cut rail, air, sea and postal links to Georgia in response to the arrest in Tbilisi last week of four Russian soldiers on spying charges. Georgia released the four on Monday in what it termed a goodwill gesture.

But Moscow has so far ignored Western appeals for it to reciprocate to defuse the tension and a Kremlin spokesman said on Tuesday that the measures would "continue for a while".

"It all depends on the general attitude of the Georgian Government and their foreign policy towards Russia," he said.

"We still hope that wisdom will dominate in the Georgian leadership but we haven't seen this wisdom yet...we want a constructive and neighbourly attitude".

But he added: "Russia is a very big, a very strong and a very serious country. You have to take this into account".

Flights and trains from Moscow to Tbilisi were cancelled early on Tuesday as the measures began to bite.

The Russian parliament is due this week to debate a draft law that would allow officials to ban cross-border money transfers, which could be a huge blow for Georgia's economy.

Almost a sixth of Georgia's national income comes from cash sent home by relatives working in Russia, who number about one million, according to central bank estimates.

It was unclear though if any new Russian regulations could stop money being sent via third countries.

The spy row brought relations between Moscow and Georgia -- which have always been stormy -- to their lowest level for years. Moscow withdrew its ambassador from Georgia and put its military on Georgia's border on heightened alert.

- Reuters