MAKHACHKALA, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - A producer at a Georgian television channel is seeking political asylum in Russia, a spokesman for the security service in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan said on Saturday.

Badri Afanasyev applied for political asylum upon arrival from Azerbaijan at a Dagestani check point on October 15, the spokesman said.

Afanasyev, 53, took part in the military conflict between Georgia and its former republic of Abkhazia in 1992-1993 as a special army commander, then worked as a security chief for the governor in western Georgia.

Afanasyev, a producer at Imedi TV, said he had been persecuted for contacts with the Georgian opposition back when Badri Patarkatsishvili, the Imedi owner who died in February 2008, was alive.

The Georgian man's application for political asylum will be considered under Russian law.

Long-standing tensions between Russia and former Soviet republic Georgia turned violent in August 2008 when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Most residents of the former Georgian republic had had Russian citizenship for many years.

Two weeks after the end of the five-day war, Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.