The Russian Embassy in Tbilisi said Friday morning that a diplomatic car with Russian diplomats had been stopped by Georgia's military police near the town of Gori, 25 km (about 16 miles) from Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, on its way from Tbilisi to Tskhinvali for a document check.
"Russia has sent a note to the Georgian Foreign Ministry expressing its very strong protest against the ungrounded detention of Russian diplomats by Georgian Defense Ministry officers during a trip in a diplomatic car to Tskhinvali," the source said.
The source described the move as "provocation against Russian representatives and the diplomatic mission."
The military police then attempted to examine the diplomatic car in violation of the Vienna convention, the embassy said.
"My documents, which I gave to Georgia's military police for inspection, have not been returned," land forces deputy commander Lieutenant General Valery Yevnevich said, adding that he was not given the explanation why his documents had been seized.
Commenting on the incident, Georgia's Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said the Russian Embassy had failed to warn Georgia about any visit of a Russian delegation to South Ossetia. But the Russian Embassy said it had promptly notified the Georgian Foreign Ministry about the visit.
Georgia's State Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava said Friday the delegation had been barred entry to Tskhinvali for safety reasons.
"They [the delegation] were not detained, as Russian media have reported, but simply stopped for the sake of their personal safety," the minister said.
"Georgian police securing the entrance to the conflict zone did not let them through because a terrorist attack occurred in Tskhinvali this morning," he said.
One person was killed and four wounded in an explosion Friday morning near the house of a local parliamentarian in Tskhinvali.
Following the note of protest, Yevnevich said over the phone that the Russian diplomats had received their documents and were returning to Tbilisi, without making it to Tskhinvali.
