On Tuesday, the head of Russia's special investigative committee, Alexander Bastrykin, said Ukrainian, U.S., Turkish and Czech mercenaries, had been involved in fighting in Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia in early August.
On Wednesday, however, the U.S. embassy in Moscow issued a statement that U.S. nationals had not participated or been in the conflict zone at the time that Georgia launched an attack on the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, to try and regain control of the rebel region.
Bastrykin said that the investigative committee had gathered evidence on the involvement of foreign mercenaries in the war, citing that they had found personal photographs, military uniforms and notebooks in the conflict zone, as well as eyewitness statements.
The head investigator also said an international tribunal could be established to investigate war crimes committed in South Ossetia by Georgian troops.
