A Georgian citizen was detained by Russian border guards Tuesday, near the village of Kveshi in Gori municipality, according to Georgia’s State Security Service.
Authorities described the detention as “illegal” and said the incident was immediately reported to international observers. The SSS alerted the co-chairs of the IPRM, a platform for talks between Georgia, Russia, the EU, and the OSCE, established in the wake of the 2008 war to handle this kind of situations.
The detainee’s identity has not been made public. Negotiations are ongoing. Officials added that all mechanisms have been activated to secure the person’s release as quickly as possible.
Border detentions like this are a recurring problem along the contact line to Georgia’s breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Both territories declared independence in the early 1990s and were recognized by Moscow after the 2008 war, but are considered part of Georgia by most countries.
The de facto boundary is patroled by border guards from Russia’s FSB. For people living in nearby Georgian villages, the boundary remains a source of tension, as locals risk being detained for straying across the line while farming, herding, or visiting neighboring villages.
