A Russian soldier has crossed into Georgia and asked the South Caucasus country for political asylum, the Imedi TV channel reported Monday.
The TV company said the serviceman cited "intolerable conditions in the armed forces" as the reason for his move.
According to Georgian TV, the serviceman's name was Dmitry Khripulin, but Georgia's refugee and accommodation ministry said it has accepted an asylum request from a serviceman having a different name who left his unit in the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia.
"This is Vitaly Khripun. We have already accepted his request and it will be considered over the next four months," the ministry's refugee and repatriation service head Irakly Kokaya said.
This is not the first time a Russian soldier has deserted to Georgia. Jr. Sgt. Alexander Glukhov was given refugee status and a job in Georgia in late June.
Another soldier, Dmitry Artemyev, who left his post at a Russian base in the South Ossetian controlled village of Perevi near the Georgian town of Sachkhere, after claiming he was "treated badly," was given refugee status in August.
A Georgian coast guard officer, Lt. Alik Bzhaniya, who crossed into Abkhazia in May, requested political asylum from Russia, citing political reasons in June.
Moscow recognized South Ossetia, and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia, as independent after a five-day military conflict with Tbilisi over the former in August 2008.
TBILISI, December 21 (RIA Novosti)
