" 

 == Exchange of prisoners == 

 Georgia gave Russia 5 POWS and Rusiia gave georgia 15 POWS (2 civilians) Weren't there reports of Georgians surrendering in their hundreds to South Ossetians and civilians being taken prisoner? There were two separate reports of 7 and 9 captured? Were the ""NATO Troops"" and ""mercenaries"" released too? What about those captured by Ossetians? With 300 missing in the cluster fuck that retreat was its hard to believe only 13 combatants were taken prisoner. South Ossetia being an internationally unrecognized state do they even have to release prisoners? Basically they are just criminals in Georgia like the Mahdi Army is in Iraq or Al-Qaeda in Iraq that announced their own government in Al Anbar province in Iraq? The way I see it they don't have to do anything and only Georgia can legally make them release or free the prisoners by enforcing law in Georgia. If South Ossetia wants to act like a legal state which South Ossetia proclaims it to be."