U.S. denies its citizens fought in Georgia war

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - The press office at the U.S. embassy in Russia dismissed Russian claims on Wednesday that American mercenaries fought alongside Georgian troops in August during the military conflict in South Ossetia.
On Tuesday, the head of Russia's special investigative committee, Alexander Bastrykin, said Ukrainian, U.S., Turkish and Czech mercenaries, had been involved in fighting in Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia in early August.
On Wednesday, however, the U.S. embassy in Moscow issued a statement that U.S. nationals had not participated or been in the conflict zone at the time that Georgia launched an attack on the South Ossetian capital, Tskhin­vali, to try and regain control of the rebel region.
Bastrykin said that the investigative committee had gathered evidence on the involvement of foreign mercenaries in the war, citing that they had found personal photographs, military uniforms and notebooks in the conflict zone, as well as eyewitness statements.