Three days after Georgian authorities ordered that the four men be held for two months pending investigation on espionage charges, they were handed over to the visiting head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and returned to Russia.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said the deal was made to appease western "friends" and not a product of Russian pressure.
Coreographed routine
The officers were eventually handed over to the OSCE in a carefully choreographed ceremony under the media spotlight in the capital Tbilisi.
"This is a goodwill gesture to our European friends and allies," Mr Saakashvili told a news conference before the men were handed over.
"It is in no way a response to pressure."
As the officers stood flanked by police guards, a Georgian official read a statement to each individually, informing them that they had been charged with espionage and would not be permitted to set foot in Georgia again.
The men, wearing civilian clothes and each holding a small plastic bag with personal effects, said nothing and showed no emotion as they were escorted to waiting vans and taken to the airport and left for Moscow.
Russian blockade
Russia has meanwhile announced a series of sweeping punitive economic measures against Georgia including the suspension of all air, sea, rail and road links.
The blockade also includes a bar on all postal deliveries and money transfers made through the Russian postal system.
The coordinated measures, which also included a prohibition on purchase of certain spare parts from Georgia, were likely to have an immediate and painful effect on Georgia, whose economy is heavily reliant on trade with Russia.
US warning
Russian President Vladimir Putin meanwhile warned his US counterpart George W. Bush against any moves by "third countries" encouraging "destructive policies" in Georgia.
In a phone conversation with Mr Bush, Mr Putin "underlined the unacceptability and danger to the peace and stability of the region of any actions by third countries that could be interpreted by the Georgian leadership as encouraging their destructive policies."
The statement highlighted Russian fears that Western powers led by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were meddling in what the Kremlin considers its strategic back yard.
The spy row reflects an overall deterioration of Russo-Georgian relations that started when the pro-Western Mr Saakashvili came to power on a wave of popular protest in 2003.