Tbilisi Claims Two ‘Ossetian Spies’ Arrested

The Georgian Interior Ministry said on September 18 it had arrested two Georgian citizens suspected of spying for secessionist South Ossetia.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry said its counter-intelligence service had arrested Valery Nartkoev and his wife, Tosia Nartkoev, residents of the Lagodekhi district of the eastern Georgian region of Kakheti, on September 5.

The pair, the Interior Ministry said, had been providing information about “the deployment of Georgian defense ministry units, their movement towards the conflict zone and about armaments.”

“In addition, they were trying to recruit ethnic Ossetian youth living in the Lagodekhi district for service in the separatist forces,” the Georgian Interior Ministry said in the statement. “We call on Georgian citizens cooperating with the separatist regimes or with foreign secret services to come forward and start cooperating with the Georgian secret services. In this particular case their punishment will be mitigated.”

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