Georgia Returns Seized Truck, Holds Ammo

Georgian law enforcement agencies have returned a Ural truck to Russian peacekeepers, but have refused to return 20 anti-tank missiles until an investigation is completed.

AFP quoted Shota Utiashvili, head of the Interior Ministry’s information and analytical department, as saying that the Georgian side was trying to investigate how the missiles had ended up in Georgia.

“The seized ammunition will not be released until an investigation is fully completed. It is impossible to say at this stage when that may happen,” Utiashvili told AFP.
 
Four Russian peacekeepers were detained by Georgian law enforcement officers on June 17 because of the unauthorized transportation of ammunition. Later all of them were released.

In a telephone conversation on June 18, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told his Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, that “provocations” against Russian peacekeepers were “inadmissible.”