Giga Bokeria, a key lawmaker from the ruling party, has again called on opposition parties to maintain their distance from all, as he put it, “pro-Russian parties” – referring to the Labor Party and National Forum.

“Their [the opposition’s] policy seems to amount to saying: we will make a deal even with the devil, just to get rid of this government,” Bokeria said. “This is very regretful.”

The opposition, however, responded, saying that by playing the anti-Russian card, the ruling party was shamelessly trying to overshadow the current political crisis.

Since the formation of an umbrella organistion of eight opposition parties, senior administration officials have suggested many times that it contains pro-Russian elements.

This is despite the fact that the organisation, formed following the arrest of ex-Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, has refused to cooperate with Irina Sarishvili’s Party of Hope, because of its affiliations with Moscow-based, ex-Georgian security chief Igor Giorgadze, who is wanted by Tbilisi for a failed assassination attempt on ex-President Shevardnadze.

The ruling party, however, said that refusing to cooperate with Sarishvili’s party and maintaining ties with other so-called Russian-leaning parties - namely the Labor Party and the National Forum – was “inconsistent.”

“It is not up to the ruling party to tell us what to do,” Salome Zourabichvili, ex-Foreign Minister and leader of opposition Georgia’s Way, told reporters on October 2. “It would be better if they responded to the allegations which have been levelled against them.”

The Labor Party has been portrayed as Russian-leaning by the ruling National Movement Party since 2005, when Shalva Natelashvili, the leader of the Labor Party, met with the Russian deputy foreign minister in Moscow. When Natelashvili said that the August 6 missile incident was staged by the Georgian authorities the allegations resurfaced, this time with even greater force.

“When our territory was bombed Natelashvili said exactly what the Kremlin wanted to hear,” Bokeria said on October 2.

The National Forum's sin, in the Administration's eyes, was its skepticism about Georgia’s NATO integration earlier this year.

The Russian factor in the current political standoff in Georgia took another turn after Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, passed a statement condemning “the anti-democratic policy” of the Georgian authorities on October 2.

Georgian lawmakers, both from the opposition and ruling parties, have said it was “funny” and ironic for Russian MPs to lecture Georgia on democracy.

Mamuka Katsitadze, a lawmaker from the opposition New Rights Party, said such statements by Russian officials were counter productive, giving the upper hand to the authorities. “It has become difficult for us to criticize the authorities following this statement from the Russian Duma,” he said.

Tina Khidasheli, one of the leaders of the opposition Republican Party, however, said the opposition should not stop criticizing the authorities “just because someone says something in Russia.”