Georgian police checkpoint to remain at occupation line, talks to continue to ease tension
Members of the central Georgian government said that today's meeting with de facto leadership in Ergneti was constructive. Photo: EUMM press office.
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Members of the central Georgian government and the de facto Tskhinvali leadership have held a four-hour meeting in the village of Ergneti earlier today to once again discuss the fate of the Georgian police checkpoint in the village of Chorchana in Khashuri municipality, near the occupation line on Tbilisi-administered territory.
The de facto leadership demanded the recently built checkpoint on August 29 be dismantled, citing ‘security threats’ and left the 95th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism meeting (IPRM) in protest
On the next day a technical meeting was held in Ergneti, where the members of the central Georgian government said that the “ordinary police checkpoint with regular equipment for the safety of locals” would not be dismantled.
The central and the de facto leadership agreed to continue talks ‘to deescalate the situation’ and scheduled the technical meeting, mediated by the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM), today.
Head of the EUMM mission to Georgia Erik Hoeg tweeted.
We continue monitoring Chorchana/Tsnelisi area at the ABL. 24/7.Tonight we have 9 #EUMM monitors from ???????????????????????????????????????????????? out there supported by 2 ???????? colleagues.
— Erik Hoeg (@erik_hoeg) August 30, 2019
According to regular updates from our patrols to HQ everything quiet so far. pic.twitter.com/msnW7wuvRD
The Chorchana checkpoint was the only issue discussed at today’s meeting. Members of de facto Tskhinvali government Egor Kochiev and Murad Jioev offered the talks to be continued to ease tension on the ground which, of course, we accepted,” Irakli Antadze from the Georgian State Security Service said.
Antadze stated that the talks will take place this month.
The technical talks is the part of the IPRM format. As for the IPRM meeting, as agreed, it will take place on October 2,” Antadze said.
He stated that “movement of military vehicles and heavily equipped people” are observed in the village of Tsnelisi, bordering Chorchana, which is under the control of occupying forces where Tskhinvali promised the construction of a checkpoint.
Antadze said that at today's meeting the central Georgian government presented a drone, which de facto Tskhinvali leadership cited to have been shot down on September 1.
The drone had no shots and we handed it to the EUMM,” Antadze said.
Head of the anti-occupation movement David Katsarava stated yesterday that they threw down the drone with their own drone. However, the de facto leadership said that they did not trust this account of events.
Antadze stated that Kochiev and Jioev did not confirm the restriction of movement to the Akhalgori district, as was reported by the media.
Residents of the Chorchana village reported earlier this year that they saw trees marked in yellow in the Chorchana forest, which house ores of talc and marble.
Under the Soviet Union the resources mined in Chorchana were processed in the village of Tsnelisi, Kareli municipality, which is now occupied by Russia.
The central Georgian government completed making a road to Chorchana in mid-August and opened a police checkpoint there.
President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid said she received the newest information about the situation on the occupation line between Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region and the rest of Georgia at today’s meeting with her Georgian counterpart Salome Zurabishvili.
Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs releases a statement regarding the latest developments at the occupation line, close to the village Chorchana situated in the territory controlled by the government of Georgia.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses concern about mobilisation of military equipment and personnel by the occupation forces at the occupation line, close to the village Chorchana situated in the territory controlled by the government of Georgia,” reads the statement.
De facto official of the Russia-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, Egor Kochiev said the Georgian police checkpoint in the village of Chorchana in Khashuri Municipality, close to Tskhinvali should be dismantled by 6 a.m. Friday, August 30.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani has invited foreign diplomats to discuss the tense situation near the occupation line with the Russia-occupied Tskhinvali region, in Khashuri Municipality. The diplomats have convened in the foreign ministry as the 95th session of Incidents Prevention and Response Mechanism (IRPM) in Russia-occupied Ergneti village, attended by Georgian, Russian and so-called Ossetian government members fell apart today.
The Georgian State Security Service has denied the reports of the de facto Tskhinvali government on the opening of a new police checkpoint at the village of Perevi, in Sachkhere municipality of western Georgia, which is located near the occupation line.
The central Georgian government has confirmed that a ‘police post’ opened by occupying forces near the village of Tsnelisi, Kareli Municipality, is on Tbilisi-administered territory. The confirmation came after today’s meeting in the village of Ergneti between the members of the central Georgian government and the de facto leadership of the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region.
Occupation forces have refused to dismantle two illegal ‘police-posts’ arranged on Tbilisi-administered territory and declined to open a so-called checkpoint to the Akhalgori district, where the local population is on the verge of humanitarian catastrophe.
Videos have gone viral on social media allegedly depicting the beating and abuse of prisoners in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
The central Georgian government has demanded the release of illegally detained and convicted Georgian citizens at the Ergneti Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting earlier today.
The de facto authorities of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region will partially lift restrictions on crossings of the administrative line separating the region from the rest of Georgia starting on Saturday, the Georgian State Security Service said on Friday.