MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax-AVN) - The command of the Joint Peacekeeping Force in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone has demanded that Georgia immediately release a humanitarian truck which was illegally detained by police on October 30.
"Joint Peacekeeping Force Commander Major General Marat Kulakhmetov has sent an official inquiry to the Joint Control Commission. He demanded that Georgia immediately release the Ural humanitarian truck which the Georgian police illegally detained near the village of Tkviani in the Gori district on October 30," assistant commander Erdni Nadyrov told Interfax-Military News Agency by phone on Monday.
"The Ural truck, which was carrying 140 bags of flour, was en route from Tskhinvali to the village of Gromi. Armed men led by Shida Kartli Governor Mikheil Kareli stopped the truck," he said.
"The truck and the cargo are at the customs terminal in the town of Gori," Nadyrov noted.
"The detention was obviously illegal. The trip was coordinated between senior military commanders in the conflict zone, including the Georgian representative. The people who were accompanying the truck had all the necessary documents," he said.
"Not a single Georgian humanitarian convoy has been stopped in the conflict zone, but Georgia has stepped up actions which are hampering the normal functioning of peacekeepers and exacerbating the situation in the conflict zone," he said.
The Shida Kartli police earlier told Interfax-AVN that the police had detained the truck of the Russian peacekeeping forces on suspicion of smuggling. The police claim that Russian servicemen carried no documents confirming their route and legitimacy of the cargo they were transporting.
South Ossetia is legally a province of Georgia, but a conflict in the 1990s led to its de facto independence. Tensions between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali have escalated in recent weeks, as Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has stepped up efforts to restore control over South Ossetia.