Russian border guards have detained more than 100 people since the start of this year for illegally crossing into the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia, a Russian official said.
Under mutual assistance treaties signed last November following Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia, as independent states, Moscow pledged to help both republics protect their borders.
"In 2010 we detained more than a hundred of state border violators, mainly nationals of Georgia," said Alexander Murzin, who heads Russian border guards in the former Georgian republic.
Some 120 border violators were detained last year, he said.
In addition, a total of 35 flights of spy drones which took off from the Georgian territory were detected in South Ossetia's airspace.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia two weeks after a five-day war with Georgia in August 2008, which began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control.
Since then, Russia has deployed thousands of troops and border guards to the tiny countries, which Georgia considers part of its sovereign territory.
TSKHINVALI, August 28 (RIA Novosti)
