Georgia Detained 7 Chechen Intruders

(Tbilisi, Civil Georgia, August 4, 2002) – Seven Chechens were detained on August 3 at the Georgian borderguard checkpoint in Girevi, northern Georgia, bordering with Chechnya, Georgian State Security Ministry and Border Guard Department report.

According to the joint statement of the Security Ministry and the Border Guard Department the intruders are transported to Tbilisi and are interrogated by the State Security Ministry.

The statement says the detained Chechens admitted that they participated in the armed clashes in Itum-Kale district of Chechnya with the Russian Federal troops.

Russians claim that the Chechen fighters participating in the recent armed clashes with the Federal Troops in Itum-Kale infiltrated into Russia from Georgia’s troubled Pankisi gorge.