On 28 September 2006 at 20:30 near a Georgian village Avnevi, located in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetia conflict and controlled by the Georgian side, were attacked peacekeepers of the Joint Forces in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. Armed people in masks and Special Forces of the Ministry of Defense fired with automatic weapons at a vehicle with peacekeepers’ number plates. In the vehicle were peacekeepers, wife and child of one of them.
After that the attackers brutally beaten the passengers and disappeared.
There are not doubts that the incident is connected with the extreme escalation of tension between Georgia and Russia and is another provocation against Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. These assaultive acts of the Georgian side are aimed at artificial escalation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone and are part of the anti-Russian and anti-Ossetian policy of the Georgian leadership.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia again draws to the occurred incident attention of the sides and intermediates of the negotiation process, all the sides interested in the Georgian-Ossetian peaceful conflict resolution and appeals to the sides to bend every effort to avoid dangerous escalation of the situation.
