Georgia Seizes Russian Aid Bound for South Ossetia

The Georgian side has blocked a convoy of trucks from the Russian Emergency Ministry carrying humanitarian aid on July 13. 

The cargo was meant for the population of Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetian region but was barred from reaching its destination at the village of Ergneti in the conflict zone.

“Any freight transported in the territory of Georgian should go through Georgian customs,” Mikheil Kareli, the Georgian government’s top official in the region told Civil Georgia.

Mikheil Saakashvili, who is currently visiting London, told the Tbilisi-based Imedi television via phone that the trucks should go through Georgian customs before entering the Georgian territory.

Mikheil Kareli also noted that the Russian trucks entered into breakaway South Ossetia from Russia’s North Ossetian Republic via Roki pass.

Commander of the Russian peacekeeping troops in the conflict zone Sviatoslav Nabzdorov described the incident as a “misunderstanding.”

“Providing humanitarian aid is part of the peacekeeping troops’ mandate,” the Itar-Tass news agency quoted Sviatoslav Nabzdorov as saying.

This incident is expected to further fuel tensions in Georgian-Russian relations, which have become more strained since July 7, when Georgian troops in breakaway South Ossetia intercepted and seized two Russian peacekeepers’ trucks loaded with hundreds of unguided missiles.