Russia frees 12 Georgian soldiers on Abkhazia border

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Russian forces turned over 12 Georgian soldiers on the border of one of the separatist provinces under Russian control Thursday after the short war that outraged the West and brought Moscow's military deep into Georgia. The release along the Inguri River separating Abkhazia from Georgia proper was a small conciliatory gesture amid the high tensions and belligerent posturing of the weeks following the end of the fighting. The soldiers, who were detained Aug. 18 in the seaport of Poti, appeared unharmed and some were smiling. Russian troops remain at checkpoints well into Georgia, saying that a cease-fire agreement allows them to occupy "security zones" outside Abkhazia and South Ossetia.