Another Provocation by Georgian Authorities

Russian observer of the Joint Staff of the mixed forces for peacekeeping in the zone of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, Lt.Col. Roman Boiko, has been detained by Georgian authorities in the city of Gori.

Head of the press-center of the Georgian Interior Ministry, Guram Donadze, said that official information about the reasons for the detention of Lt.Col. R. Boiko would not be released before Sunday, that is 48 hours after the detention.

"Before bringing the charge, we have no right to disclose in what quality he has been detained and what exactly the charge is", said G. Donadze.

In the meantime, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking on the phone with his Georgian colleague Gela Bejuashvili, demanded that Lt. Col. R. Boiko be immediately released.

G. Bejuashvili agreed that the situation should be defused as soon as possible. The Foreign Ministries of the two countries agreed to keep in touch so as to assure the speediest release of the Russian peacekeeper.

The Russian Foreign Ministry qualified the detention of the Russian officer by Georgian authorities as unprecedented. A ministry spokesman, Mikhail Troyanski, told journalists that if R. Boiko is not released, all responsibility for this incident would rest fully with the Georgian side. According to him, R. Boiko was in Gori on official business.