ditsi 2

Earlier this year the de facto border was moved 300 m and reinforced with razor wire in Ditsi. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Russian border guards have detained five more Georgian citizens for crossing the de facto border near the breakaway region South Ossetia.

A journalist working for Interpressnews reports that three Georgians were detained in the village Akhalubani and brought to Tskhinvali.

The other two are from the village Khviti.

All five have been placed in a preliminary detention facility in Tskhinvali, the capital of the de facto breakaway region South Ossetia, which Russia recognized as a country after the war in 2008, stationing its military there.

Seven Georgian have been detained so far this July. None of them have been released, but the Georgian government is negotiating with the de facto government in Tskhinvali about their release.

There has been an increase in border detentions after Russian soldiers moved the so-called administrative border 300 meters into Georgia-controlled territory.