Georgia returns seized ex-peacekeepers

Georgia has handed over three former Russian servicemen, who had been serving in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone, to Russian peacekeeping forces. The three men were detained on Sunday while allegedly drunk in the Georgian coastal town of Poti.

Georgian authorities said they had no Georgian visas and should not have been in the country.

The town of Poti is 12 kilometres from the peacekeepers' zone of responsibility, and off-limits to Russian servicemen.

The Russian peacekeeping headquarters in the region has confirmed the three had once been on the peacekeepers' list, but it says they were dismissed two days before the incident for breaching their contracts and it is unknown how they ended up in Poti.

Russian servicemen in the region are part of the Collective Peacekeeping Force. They've been stationed in the zone of the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict since 1994.