Passage: Moscow, infuriated by the arrests, has imposed an economic blockade on Tbilisi by cutting transport and postal links, and has deported Georgians accused of staying in Russia illegally. Ties between Moscow and Tbilisi have been strained by tensions over Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and the country's bid to join NATO since President Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in 2003.
infuriated