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Russia asks Georgia to admit 2 evacuating planes in next 2 days

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MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has asked Georgian diplomats to allow two evacuating planes to land on its territory in the next two days, amid a spying row, an official said Monday.

The request came after Georgia denied permission earlier in the day for flights by two Russian rescue planes, set to bring some 270 Russians back to Moscow from Tbilisi.

Ivan Volynkin, Russia's charge d'affaires in Georgia, said he hoped for "an affirmative answer from the Georgian side."

Russia cut off transportation links with Georgia last week after Georgian police detained four Russian servicemen on espionage charges. Although the servicemen were released, tensions between the countries remained high and Russia has evacuated most of its diplomats from the territory of its southern neighbor.

Russia's Volynkin said "the Georgian side issued permission for the arrival of the planes last week."

However, on Monday, the Russian Embassy in Georgia was informed that the airport service had withdrawn the permission following instructions from the Georgian Foreign Ministry.

"The Georgian Foreign Ministry told Russian Embassy officials that the planes would be unable to land at Tbilisi airport today for technical reasons, and their flights would have to be postponed until tomorrow," Volynkin said.

Airport officials said the two planes could not fly on Monday due to repair works on the runway Sunday, adding that no heavy planes with a cargo capacity of more than 100 metric tons were able to land at the airport during the day.

Airport officials told passengers that the flights had been postponed until Tuesday afternoon.

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