18 August 2008, 12:52
Exchange of prisoners between Russia and Georgia failed
The would-be today's exchange of prisoners of war between Georgia and Russia has failed. The parties are accusing each other.
Earlier, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff of Russian Armed Forces, had reported that 19 persons are regarded to be missing on the Russian party; they may be in captivity.
"According to the international law, at midday on Monday (Moscow time), the exchange of prisoners between the Russian and Georgian parties was due to take place," said Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Bobrun, assistant to the Commander of the North Caucasian Military District as quoted by the ITAR-TASS.
According to Mr Bobrun, the Russian party prepared 11 militaries for exchange, and three more persons were added to them in the preparation process. In exchange, the Russian Ministry of Defence expected to receive 5 militaries from Georgia. However, during negotiations, the Georgian party "has unexpectedly moved military and political claims", which, according to Andrei Bobrun, became the reason of the exchange failure.
Meanwhile, the Georgian Ministry of Defence has categorically refuted the information of the Russian party that their Georgian counterparts were guilty of disrupting the negotiations on exchange of prisoners. According to Batu Kuteliya, Georgian Defence Deputy Minister, the Georgian party had presented complete information about the prisoners, but the list of the Russian party was inexact and included persons who were not in captivity, the "News-Georgia" Agency reports.
