General Staff of Russia: Georgian demands suggest that they are trying to use our captured as hostages

Генштаб РФ: Требования грузинской стороны наводят на мысль, что они пытаются использовать наших пленных как заложников

The Russian Ministry of Defense is placing blame on the Georgians for failing to follow through with a prisoner exchange. As Anatoliy Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, stated, according to agreement reached earlier, a "list-for-list" prisoner exchange was supposed to have taken place in the village of Ergneti. Russia was supposed to transfer 15 Georgian servicemen; Georgia was supposed to transfer 12 Russians, reports and IA Regnum correspondent.

However, according to the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, just before the exchange was about to take place, Georgian representatives put forward a number of additional conditions, and as a result, the exchange was broken off.

"Time is necessary to fulfill any kind of requirement. The fact that they gave us these conditions without any advance notice tells us something. Preliminary analysis of the conditions which the Georgians gave us suggest that they are trying to use our prisoners of war as hostages and somehow bargain," said Nogovitsyin.

He noted that Russia believes that Georgian authorities should be just as interested in a prisoner exchange.

IA Regnum