Tbilisi, DFWatch – Russian soldiers have detained one more Georgian citizen in a village close to the breakaway region South Ossetia.

Locals say Mikheil Khurievi, 63, was in the village Tsitelubani on Georgian-controlled territory when Russian soldiers approached him. They say the soldiers violated the so-called border, but detained him, accusing him of having violated the border.

The detainee remains in preliminary detention in Tskhinvali, a small city and the administrative center for the de facto authorities in the region. Six Georgians are currently being held there in detention.

According to locals, there is mainly Ossetians living in Tsitelubani and there has never been any confrontation between them and the Georgians there, but border detentions have become more frequent during the last month.

The Georgian delegation raised the issue of border detentions at a meeting of the Incident Prevention and Reaction Mechanism on Tuesday, the same day as Khurievi was detained.

Another important issue at the meeting was the issue of Russian soldiers moving the so-called border 300 meters into Georgian-controlled territory, which remains a subject of concern for the local population and the government.