Gocha Ratiani, head of the department for information and analysis at the Georgian Interior Ministry, said that the ministry sent a request to clarify reasons for the arrests of TV-3 journalist Bella Zakidze, cameramen Vakhor Lekiashvili and technical specialist Mikhail Mikhoyev, Trend reports.
They were detained by Russian border guards yesterday for illegal border crossing in South Ossetia. The three are currently in Tskhinvali. Their release will be one of the main issues discussed at the meeting of Georgian Special Envoy Zurab Abashidze and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin in Prague today.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili called their detention “kidnapping” and expressed a hope that the problem would soon be resolved. Russia called the incident an attempt to complicate the talks in Prague.
