The military hardware of Russian peacekeeping troops intruded into the territory near the patriotic camp for teenagers in the village of Ganmukhuri in the Abkhaz conflict zone on October 30, the Georgian Interior Ministry said.

“The Russian peacekeepers took several Georgian policemen as hostages and beat them up brutally,” it said in a statement.

According to the same satement, currently the shootout still continues between the Georgian and Russian sides.

“The Georgian side has put [its forces] on high alert,” it said. 

The Ganmukhuri village is located on the Abkhazian side of the Enguri river and is the last Georgian-controlled village in the conflict zone, less than a half a kilometer away from the Abkhaz-controlled territories.

Meanwhile, RIA Novosti quoted Sergey Chaban, the commander of the peacekeeping troops, as saying that the Russian peacekeeping troops are already handing over the detained policemen to the Georgian side.

He said that the Russian peacekeepers patrolling in the lower part of the Gali district and the Zugdidi district detained and disarmed five Georgian policemen, who were threatening to shoot Russian servicemen and burn their hardware.