Investigators with Russia's Prosecutor General's Office established that American, Czech, Ukrainian and Turkish mercenaries fought with Georgian forces, as did fighters from Chechnya, Russian news agencies quoted the head of the investigation, Alexander Bastrykin, as saying.

"For the most part they were instructors, but we determined some cases of snipers," he said.

Responding to the claim, Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia told AFP: "It's difficult to comment on this seriously. It is against the law for non-Georgian citizens to serve in the Georgian military."

"They are saying that half the world fought with Georgia against the Russian Federation. It's nonsense."

He said the claim was an attempt to justify the "heavy losses" Russia's military suffered during the war.

Russian forces moved into Georgia on August 8 to repel a Georgian military attempt to retake the rebel region of South Ossetia, which has received extensive backing from Moscow.

Under a European Union-brokered ceasefire, Russian forces later withdrew to within South Ossetia and another rebel Georgian region, Abkhazia, which Moscow recognised as independent states.

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