The Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights was not allowed to cross the border of the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia, Georgian television reported on Sunday.

Thomas Hammarberg, who was on a visit to Georgia and intended to go to South Ossetia's capital to help release four Georgian teenagers, was stopped on Sunday by the South Ossetian side and Russian border guards, Rustavi-2 reported.

According to South Ossetia, four Georgian teenagers were detained in South Ossetia's capital late at night on November 4 with four grenades and explosive devices. Georgia, however, says that four secondary school boys went missing on a territory close to the Georgian village of Tirdznisi in the Gori district in east Georgia.

Hammarberg spent several hours in the village of Ergneti at the border but was not allowed to cross into South Ossetia, Rustavi-2 said.

Hammarberg told the TV channel that he would continue his efforts to help release the Georgian teenagers and would necessarily visit South Ossetia but declined to specify the time.

Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war in August 2008, which began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia in a bid to bring it back under central control.

Two weeks after the end of the war, Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia, another former Georgian republic, as independent states.

TBILISI, November 29 (RIA Novosti)