Commander of 58th Army: Glukhov was recruited by Georgia special agencies

The Command of the 58th Army asserts that Junior Sergeant Alexander Glukhov who found himself in the territory of Georgia could have been recruited by Georgian special services.

The "Caucasian Knot" has informed that Alexander Glukhov, 21, who was taking his service in Akhalgori, on January 26, left his military unit and addressed for help to Georgian police. According to the information of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, which was later confirmed by Glukhov himself, the soldier made this decision because of intolerable serving conditions. Tbilisi is not going to deport him to Russia.

"On January 20, the Georgian TV Channel 'Imedi' broadcast information that Georgian special agencies are really conducting operations in the territory of South Ossetia and Leningorsk District, aiming, in particular, to recruit local residents and persuade them to resettle to Georgia. The information is also available that similar operations are underway with the aim to recruit servicemen from Russian and Ossetian armed forces," told General Alexander Zhuravlyov, Commander of the 58th Army, as quoted by the Committee for Information and Press of the Republic of South Ossetia.

"We find this variant to be the main version; and we have our operative data that the soldier had been violently captured and taken out of the territory of Georgia," the General has noted.

"Glukhov is an ordinary soldier, never notable for anything good or bad. A soldier in charge of his own mission. Probably, he made some stupid thing himself, as no incidents with his participation were registered," reports Lieutenant Rafael Simgatulin, commander of the platoon, whose subordinate the Junior Sergeant was.

However, on January 29, a high-ranking source in the commission, engaged in investigating the incident with Glukhov, declared that the sergeant was not kidnapped but left his military unit on his own will. Later, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation refuted this information.

So far, the sergeant is not going to come back to Russia, however, he said in a telephone conversation with his mother that has told that he wants to go home. According to the news items disseminated by Russian media, Georgian policemen promised an apartment and work in Georgia to Alexander Glukhov.