MOSCOW, July 12 (RIA Novosti) - The Rossiya TV channel confirmed reports Thursday that two of its correspondents had been detained in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict area.
Journalist Andrei Chistyakov and cameraman Igor Stiruit from the Vesti bureau in Pyatigorsk arrived Thursday in the Georgian village of Kurt, in the conflict area, to make a report about local peacekeeping efforts.
The Novosti-Georgia news agency reported earlier that two-four people who said they were from the Vesti channel, broadcast by RTR-Planeta, were arrested at about 1:30 p.m. Moscow time (10.30 a.m. GMT).
Alexei Kazakov, a Rossiya producer in Vladikavkaz, said on the phone that there also could be two peacekeepers among the detainees.
"According to unconfirmed data, two people from the press service of a Mixed Peacekeeping Forces unit were also detained," Kazakov said.
A senior police officer in Georgia, Shota Khizanishvili, told RIA Novosti that two people, who stated they were Russian journalists, were being checked, but were not under arrest.
"Two people, who had no documents with them, are being checked at the Tamarasheni-Pekhvi sector," Khizanishvili said. "It is not a detention, but a regular identity check of individuals without documents."
The latest reports quoted Khizanishvili as saying that Georgia had already transferred the two detained Russian journalists to the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi.
Irina Gagloyeva, head of the South Ossetian information and press committee, said: "The police in Georgia had arrested Russian journalists for the first time since the conflict started, though the Russian journalists had been treated well."
She also said although there were still tensions after the recent events, the situation in the region was more stable and calm.
The situation in the conflict zone recently deteriorated over damaged water pipelines leading to South Ossetia, which left 70 villages and 44,000 hectares of farmland without water. And gunfire was exchanged when Georgia started building a road in the area without consulting local authorities. Russian peacekeepers stopped the construction and urged consultations between the two sides.
Both the RTR-Planeta and Rossiya channels are subsidiaries of the All-Russia State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company.
