South Ossetia temporary blocks border with Georgia

Georgia is concerned by South Ossetia’s "illegal” and "provocative” move to prohibit crossing the administrative border with Georgia for five days.

The de-facto security committee of South Ossetia – one of Georgia’s two breakaway regions – announced people would not be able to cross the administrative border from August 6 until August 11.

The reason for the temporary boarder closure was related to safety measures connected to memorial events dedicated to the 6th anniversary of the 2008 Russia-Georgia War.

The Georgian side assessed the move as "another provocation” from the Russian-backed de-facto regime.

Georgia’s Interior Ministry informed representatives of the European Union’s Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia and co-chairs of Geneva Talks about the temporary border closure. Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani said the case would be heavily discussed at the upcoming Geneva Discussions in September.

"This is another attempt to violate people’s right to free movement,” Zalkaliani said.

Georgia’s State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Alex Petriashvili believed the measures were put in place to "create tension”.

"This has already become an awful tradition. The purpose of this action is not to guarantee security. This is just a bad tactic aimed to create tension,” he said.

The Russia-Georgia War - also known as the South Ossetia War, Five-Day War, August War or Russia's invasion of Georgia - took place in August 2008.

The war displaced 192,000 people and while many were able to return to their homes after the war, a year later around 30,000 ethnic Georgians remained displaced. As of May 2014, More than 20,200 people remain displaced after being denied the opportunity to return to their homeland by separatist authorities.