Moscow Condemns Detention of Russian Officials
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned a brief detention of the Russian officials by the Georgian Military Police on July 15 as a provocation aiming at stirring tensions in the South Ossetian conflict zone.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that after the July 14 incident, the Georgian Military Police again blocked on July 15 a car of the Russian Embassy at a gunpoint and searched passengers – Russian chief negotiator on South Ossetia Yuri Popov, deputy commander of the Russian land forces Valery Yevnevich and an employee of the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi. Servicemen of the Georgian Military Police fired several shots in the air and verbally abused the Russian officials, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The car was moving from the breakaway South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali to Tbilisi and was stopped by the Georgian law enforcers near the town of Gori. The Georgian side explained that it was just a routine check of papers.
“As we have been indicating, the Georgian authorities started and continued provocations against Russian diplomats and peacekeepers in Georgia during the ongoing G8 summit in St. Petersburg,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on July 16.
“We consider this provocation [detention of the Russian Embassy”s car] as an attempt to further escalate tensions in the region.”
The statement also reiterates an earlier announcement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said that the “party of war” in the Georgian government has succeeded through this provocation, as a session of the Joint Control Commission over South Ossetian conflict is thwarted. The session was scheduled for July 17-18 in Tbilisi.
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