NEW YORK, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Tuesday reiterated Russia's demand that Georgia immediately release two Russian peacekeepers.
On August 29, Georgian Interior Ministry officers apprehended three peacekeepers from the joint forces' North Ossetian battalion, and although one of them was released, two were sentenced later to two months imprisonment.
Lavrov said the peacekeepers "were detained in [Georgian capital] Tbilisi without any grounds," although Georgian authorities claim Tariel Khachirov and Vitaly Valiyev were arrested on suspicion of illegally detaining nine Georgians August 26 and 27.
Lavrov also said his Georgian counterpart, Gela Bezhuashvili, had cancelled their planned meeting in New York is an attempt "to avoid the hard-hitting discussion of problems in the [breakaway republics] of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia following a bloody conflict that left hundreds dead in 1991-1992, and peacekeepers have been stationed in the region ever since.
