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The ministry granted him the status of asylum seeker. TBILISI (Reuters) - A second Russian soldier has defected from his unit in breakaway South Ossetia and asked for asylum in Georgia, Georgia said on Thursday.

Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war last August when Russia crushed a Georgian assault on the pro-Russian rebel region of South Ossetia. Two weeks ago, a Georgian lieutenant asked for political asylum in Russia and railed against Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Russian radio.

Georgia's Refugee Ministry named the Russian soldier as Private Dmitry Artemyev. He defected on Wednesday by crossing at a village on South Ossetia's western flank, and complained of mistreatment in his unit, the ministry said.

"The ministry granted him the status of asylum seeker," a spokeswoman said.

Georgian television quoted Artemyev as saying he was following the example of a Russian sergeant who defected in January and now lives in Georgia. Russia's RIA Novosti news agency quoted a high-ranking military source as saying Artemyev had fled because of bullying by other soldiers.

Georgia's government claimed a public relations coup in January when Sergeant Alexander Glukhov defected and said conditions in his unit were unbearable. Russia first accused Georgia of abducting him but later threatened to jail the runaway for desertion. Georgia has refused to extradite him.

On June 18, Georgian lieutenant Alik Bzhania gave a live interview to Moscow's Ekho Moskvy radio station in which he accused Saakashvili of "destroying Georgia from within". Georgia said he had been dismissed for disciplinary violations.