Following talks on 24 January mediated by the Joint Control Commission that monitors developments in the South Ossetian conflict zone, the South Ossetian authorities released Major Lado Chalauri later that day. Chalauri was apprehended in the conflict zone on 20 January. Chalauri identified his abductors as Ossetian \"criminals\" but failed to explain why they delivered him to a jail in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali. The Georgian side reciprocated by freeing two Ossetians whose release Tskhinvali had demanded and transferring Alik Pukhaev, an Ossetian suspected of murdering two Georgians last year, into the custody of the Russian peacekeepers deployed in the conflict zone. Georgian residents of South Ossetia protested Pukhaev\'s release. On 22 January, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili ruled out the exchange of the three Ossetians for Chalauri. (Caucasus Press)