First Lady's Trip Inflames Tension Between Georgia and Breakaway Region

Georgia was plunged into fresh crisis last night when officials said the wife of President Mikhail Saakashvili had been arrested while trying to enter one of the country's secessionist regions.

Dutch citizen Sandra Roelofs was detained while trying to visit South Ossetia, one of two remaining breakaway regions that the new president has promised to rein in. The renegade administration of the third province, Adzharia, fell in a peaceful revolution last month.

Ms Roelofs, who met Mr Saakashvili when they were students in the Ukraine, tried to enter the province twice. She eventually reached the village of Tamarasheni, where she was to celebrate International Children's Day, by taking a helicopter over the border and then driving the rest of the way.

Irina Gagloyeva, a South Ossetian spokeswoman, told Interfax: "The Georgian president's wife was questioned and warned that if such incidents occur in the future, appropriate measures will be taken against her. She came here by helicopter, and thus had to leave the same way ... despite the weather not being suitable for flying."