Georgian troop rebellion 'over'（打印版）

A mutiny（兵变，反抗） at a military base near Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is over, the Georgian interior minister（内政部长） says.

Vano Merabishvili said the commander（司令官，指挥官） of the Mukhrovani base where a tank battalion（营，军队） mutinied had been arrested and others were being questioned.

Tbilisi said earlier it was part of a Russia-linked coup attempt to kill President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Russia's envoy（外交使节）to Nato described the charges as "mad". The trouble comes a day before Nato exercises in Georgia.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has condemned（被责难的，被宣告有罪的）Nato for planning military exercises in a country "where there was just a war".

Georgia and Russia have poisonous relations, and fought a war over Georgia's breakaway territory（领土，领域） of South Ossetia last August.

In a separate development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he would not attend a planned meeting of the Nato-Russia Council later this month following the alliance's expulsion（开除，驱逐） of two Russian diplomats last week.

They were expelled reportedly in retaliation for a spy scandal（丑闻） involving an Estonian official.

Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer expressed regret at Mr Lavrov's decision.

In a statement, the Georgian interior ministry said that the attempted mutiny at the Mukhrovani base, some 30km (20 miles) from Tbilisi, had failed and the situation had been brought under control.

The statement came after negotiations between government officials and troops at the base.

It's over. Most of the people have surrendered（投降，屈服）, including the commander of the battalion. A few people have escaped," spokesman Shota Utiashvili told the AFP news agency.

At the entrance to Mukhrovani, bus loads of soldiers and other official military vehicles（传播媒介，工具） were seen leaving, the BBC's Tom Esslemont reports from just outside the base.

Our correspondent says that Mr Saakashvili also left the base shortly after the alleged （被指称的）mutiny ended, though an interior ministry spokesman denied that the president had taken part in the negotiations to end the mutiny.

In a televised address later on Tuesday, Mr Saakashvili described the mutiny as a "serious threat", but added that it was an isolated（分离的，孤立的） incident.

"The plan was to stage a large-scale mutiny in Tbilisi and to take steps against the sovereignty of Georgia and the Georgian government's European and Euro-Atlantic integration."

Mr Saakashvili also demanded that Russia "refrain（抑制，制止） from provocations（刺激，挑拨）".

It is still not clear how many officers may have been involved in the events at Mukhrovani.

The mutiny erupted （爆发）on Tuesday morning, when soldiers began disobeying orders, Georgian officials said.

The soldiers were aiming at "disrupting Nato exercises and overturning（倒转） the authorities militarily", Georgian Defence Minister David Sikharulidze told Georgian television.

The rebellion began as the government announced it had disrupted a coup（出乎意料的行动） plot.

The interior ministry told the BBC that the plotters（阴谋者，计划者） wanted to destabilise Georgia and assassinate President Saakashvili.

Mr Utiashvili said one of the suspected coup leaders - former special forces commander Georgy Gvaladze - was arrested. But the alleged co-plotter - former chief of special forces Koba Otanadze - was still at large.

The spokesman said the government had been aware of the plot for two months.

The rebellion appeared to be "co-ordinated with Russia", the interior ministry said.

But Dmitry Rogozin, Moscow's ambassador at military alliance, said the mutiny in Georgia was the result of "crazy politics of President Saakashvili".

In a separate development, opposition protests are continuing in Tbilisi.

The demonstrators（示威者） say they plan to block three main roads into the capital later on Tuesday.

Opposition parties say the alleged mutiny was a deliberate attempt by the government to distract（转移，分心）attention from a new phase of anti-government protests.

Georgian troop rebellion 'over'（在线收听）