Georgia’s borderguard service on Monday said it detained a Russian citizen over illegal entry into Abkhazia, which Tbilisi considers part of its sovereign territory.
“Russian citizen Bella Vekua who illegally entered Abkhazia through [a checkpoint on] Psou River on September 17, 2010, was detained on March 29,” the press service said. It did not say where Vekua was detained.
A case for violating Georgia’s law on occupied territories has been opened against Vekua. If found guilty, she may be fined or be kept behind bars for between two and four years.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s. Georgian forces attempted to bring South Ossetia back under central control in August 2008, but were repelled by the Russian military. Russia subsequently recognized both republics as independent.
Since then, Russia has deployed thousands of troops and border guards to the tiny republics, which Georgia considers its own, "occupied" territory.
Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the tiny island nations of Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are the only other countries to have recognized the republics.
