A man who was allegedly detained in Pankisi Gorge the other day does not serve in Russian police

The police of Krasnodar Territory, a region in Southern Russia, reported that among its staffers there is no man by the name of Vladimir Blinov. The name was mentioned by Valery Khaburdzania, Minister of State Security of Georgia, on Friday among the men allegedly detained in the Pankisi Gorge. He said at a briefing in Tbilisi that two days ago that a car was detained in that Georgian district near the Chechen border, which was carrying a refugee from Chechnya and three Russian citizens who had documents, allegedly identifying them as police officers from Krasnodar.

The RIA Novosti correspondent was told in the internal affairs department of Krasnodar that they have no man by the name of Blinov an their staff. The check-up of the two other names mentioned by the Georgian Minister is still underway. The representative of the Krasnodar police says that the people detained by the Georgian authorities were holding false documents.

The Georgian side does not rule out this possibility, either. However, Khaburdzania said that, in the light of the latest events around the Chechen section of the Georgian-Russian border, that incident is "giving rise" to questions.