Lieutenant Alik Bzhania, who served in the Georgian coast guard, told Moscow-based Echo Moskvy radio station that he had fled Georgia to seek political asylum in Russia.

Bzhania, who has already been described by the Russian media as ‘Georgian Glukhov’ – a reference to a Russian soldier who sought asylum in Georgia, said that he crossed into breakaway Abkhazia bypassing Abkhaz militias’ posts and approached to the Russian servicemen to request for asylum in Russia on May 24.

The Georgian Interior Ministry said in a brief statement on June 18, that Bzhania was in service of the Georgian border guard police’s coast guard unit from October, 2008.

“He was dismissed on May 18, 2009 for multiple violation of discipline,” the Georgian Interior Ministry, which has the border guard police under its subordination, said.

In his statement read out in the Echo Moskvy radio station, Bzhania named political reasons behind his decision.

“I love my country, but I no longer can stay on its territory, because I can no longer look on quietly as President Mikheil Saakashvili is destroying Georgia from within,” Bzhania said.

He also said that he had mother, father and brother in Georgia and requested the International Committee of the Red Cross to help them arrive in Russia.