Occupation forces erect new barbed-wire fences, barriers near de facto Abkhazia
The Georgian Foreign Ministry says that Russia redoubled its occupation efforts during the pandemic. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Russian-controlled occupation forces have erected new, illegal barriers and barbed-wire-fences near Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region, the Georgian State Security Service has reported earlier today.
The agency said that the new, illegal barriers were made near the Pakhulani village of Tsalenjikha municipality in western Georgia on December 26-27.
The action is yet another destructive step which further complicates the security situation on the ground and creates additional problems for the free movement of locals,” said the State Security Service.
Russia recognised the two Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent states after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
Since then only Venezuela, Nikaragua, Nauru and Syria have recognised the regions as independent states, while the rest of the international community is unanimous that the regions are occupied by Russia.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has responded to the claims of Russian-occupied Abkhazia region that two Turkish banks, Isbank and Ziraat Bank, have started servicing their Apra cards.
89-year-old Georgian Data Vanishvili, whose house and agricultural lands have been divided in two by occupying forces, is in critical condition and is not being allowed to enter Tbilisi-controlled territory to receive medical assistance, the Voice of America reports.
Occupying forces have installed a lookout tower at the Khurvaleti village, near the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region to “exercise higher pressure on locals and check how many people are trying to cross illegal barriers,”, Georgian Reconciliation Minister Ketevan Tsikhelashvili says.
Occupation forces have appeared near the village of Khurvaleti, close to Tbilisi-controlled territory, and are digging into land on the slope overlooking the village, Radio Liberty reports, citing local resident Luda Salia who released a video depicting the process late yesterday.
The central Georgian government and international partners have ensured four million GEL in financial support for Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region during the pandemic, Georgian State Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Tea Akhvlediani stated earlier today, during a presentation of the 2020 report.
A monument dedicated to victims of Russia's ongoing occupation of two of Georgia's regions has been unveiled in Tbilisi following an initiative by city mayor Kakha Kaladze.