MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Moscow is concerned about the detention of a Russian serviceman in Batumi and the arrests in Ajaria of people accused of being disloyal to Tbilisi.
"Reports from Batumi say that people are being arrested and accused of being disloyal to Georgia's central authorities there. One Russian serviceman of the Russian military force in Transcaucasia has been detained. At the same time, preparations are underway for the confiscation of numerous enterprises and installations owned by people regarded as unreliable," says a Russian Foreign Ministry report posted on the ministry's website on Tuesday.
"These activities cause concern, especially since they are inconsistent with repeated assurances made by Georgian leaders that they will not allow any persecution or reprisals in Ajaria in the wake of the recent events in that autonomous republic," the report says.