Eight Russian peacekeepers arrested in Georgia Tuesday released

MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Eight Russian peacekeepers, arrested in Georgia after their truck collided with a passenger mini-bus on Tuesday afternoon, were released and have returned to base, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The servicemen were arrested in western Georgia's Zugdidi District, near the border with the breakaway province of Abkhazia. No one was injured in the collision.

"All the Russian peacekeepers, including the driver, were released along with their vehicle at 2 a.m. Moscow time [11:00 GMT Monday] and have returned to their base in Sukhumi," said Colonel Vyacheslav Sedov, the head of the ministry's press service.

Russian peacekeepers have been stationed in secessionist Abkhazia since a bloody conflict after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The peacekeepers' continued presence in the province has been a cause of tension between Russia and Georgia, which accuses Moscow of backing the separatists.