Georgia accuses Russia after policeman shot dead

By Margarita Antidze

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia accused Russia of violating a ceasefire deal on Wednesday after a Georgian police officer was shot dead near a Russian checkpoint near breakaway South Ossetia.

Russia denied involvement in the killing at a Georgian police post in the village of Karaleti, several hundred metres (yards) from Russian soldiers controlling an entrance to the South Ossetia 'buffer zone'.

The incident underlined the fragility of a ceasefire deal brokered after last month's five-day war.

Georgian police said the officer was shot in the head "from the direction of the Russian checkpoint," but that Russian forces had suggested South Ossetian separatists may be responsible.

"This incident provides further evidence that the Russian side continues to violate the six-point ceasefire document," the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Not only do Russia's armed forces fail to comply with the political commitments undertaken by their president ... but go as far as to completely disregard them, causing the death of innocent people."

Georgia has accused Russia of giving free rein to militias from South Ossetia and the north Caucasus to loot and burn homes in Georgian villages in the buffer zone and around the breakaway capital Tskhinvali.

Russia argues its soldiers are there to provide security, but agreed on Monday to withdraw from the 'security zones' outside South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, within a month.