Coup attempt in Georgia

MOSCOW - Several senior Georgian defence ministry officials have been arrested for an attempted coup, reports reaching here from Tbilisi said.

‘A coup plot has been exposed,’ Georgia’s interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili was quoted as saying by Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The arrested officers will be charged with planning a coup, Utiashvili said.

‘The interior ministry has exposed a plot that was being prepared in some of the defence ministry’s military units,’ he said.

‘The organisers were former high-ranking defence ministry officials. The preliminary investigation materials showed that the plot was coordinated with the Russians and was aimed at disrupting the NATO training scheduled to take place in Georgia May 6,’ Utiashvili said.