IGOETI (Georgia), Aug 19: Russian and Georgian forces on Tuesday carried out their first prisoner exchange since the conflict began, in an apparent goodwill gesture despite ongoing tensions.

Fifteen Georgian prisoners were exchanged for five Russians at the Igoeti checkpoint 30 kilometres from Tbilisi, the Georgian defence ministry said.

A Russian helicopter bearing the Georgian detainees had early in the morning landed in a field beside the checkpoint. Russian soldiers then took the prisoners to the checkpoint, two of them wounded and on stretchers.

The Russian prisoners had arrived in Georgian cars. Two of them were badly wounded and were laid out on stretchers before the exchange took place, newsmen at the scene said.

The prisoner swap was then carried out in the area between the Georgian and Russian controlled checkpoints, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The Igoeti checkpoint has in recent days marked the current limit of Georgian control in the area, with one side blocked by Georgian police and the other controlled by a handful of Russian soldiers.

Beyond the Igoeti checkpoint, Russia’s military presence was still evident, with several tanks and armoured vehicles stationed on the road to the city of Gori, 60 kilometres west of Tbilisi.

Four ambulances were waiting on the Georgian side of the checkpoint to receive their prisoners after the exchange.

One Georgian prisoner, unshaven and wounded in the leg, was laid down in one of the ambulances.

The haggard-looking prisoner said he had been transferred from the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz to the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali ahead of the exchange.

“I am from the military, yes,” the man mumbled into the media microphones thrust into the ambulance as he leaned on his elbow.

The swap was overseen by General Vyacheslav Borisov, the top Russian general in the region, and Georgia’s national security chief Alexander Lomaia.

Despite the tensions, the pair appear to have remained in close contact over the last days.

Georgia’s Rustavi-2 television said that two of the Russian prisoners were pilots who had been shot down.

It was not immediately clear if the prisoners exchanged represented all the soldiers captured in the conflict that started when Georgia launched an assault on the Moscow-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia on Aug 7.

Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Eka Zghuladze said a day earlier that over

100 Georgian citizens had been detained by Russia in the conflict, while Georgia had captured between 12 to 15 people.

The exchange had been scheduled to take place on Monday but Georgia said it fell through because Moscow had failed to provide an accurate list of prisoners.—AFP