A Georgian policeman was shot dead Wednesday near Russian checkpoint in Georgia, Georgian Interior Ministry said in a statement.

"At 10:15am [local time] this morning, shots were fired at a Georgian police post on the edge of the village of Karaleti in the Gori district. The shots came from a nearby Russian post," the statement emailed to journalists said.

"The Georgian side did not return fire," it added.

The ministry said the policeman, Kakha Tsotniashvili, died in hospital from bullet wounds to the head and throat.

Karaleti lies within the seven-kilometer buffer zone Russian troops have established around Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia where war erupted last month.