Georgia announces release of tourists detained in South Ossetia

The tourists detained for violating the border are to be transferred to the Georgian side on August 30, the Georgian law enforcement bodies reported. According to their information, the detained resident of the Chvrinisi village had already been released. The tourists were detained because of the Russian border guards who moved the line of demarcation, the Georgian authorities believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 28, five residents of Tbilisi who went on a trip to the Truso Gorge were detained near the line of delimitation with South Ossetia.

The mission of the International Red Cross in Georgia reported that its members met the detained five young people, and their health was not threatened, the Georgian "Rustavi-2" TV Channel reported on its website on August 29.

One of the guides, who accompany tourists in the area where five Tbilisi residents were detained, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the border checkpoint appeared there just recently. "Just three weeks ago, Russian soldiers built their checkpoint in the gorge and moved the Russian border to the territory of Georgia. Yesterday, Russian soldiers caught five tourists there, told them they were not on Georgian territory, and arrested them, "said Paata Glonti, the head of the agency "Panika Gudauri".

All detainees are to be released on August 30, the Georgian State Security Service has reported.

According to the "InterPressNews", Giorgi Kharazishvili, a 62-year-old resident of the Chvrinisi village, who was detained earlier, was already released on August 29.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 30, 2018 at 01:03 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.