Creeping occupation: Armed militants reap crop of farmers in Gori

Russian occupants are continuing their illegal activities in eastern Georgia’s Gori municipality, and this time have taken vital crops away from farmers, leaving them without food.

Gori is located near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating Georgia and occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).

In recent hours Russian occupying forces prevented small-time farmers to reap their harvest for the sole reason that their crops were on land that does not belong to Georgia.

This is extremely controversial as there are no so-called border signs or barbed wire fences that show it is an occupied land.

Late last night uniformed gunmen appeared in Sobisi Village in Gori and brought with them a combined harvester and started to plough six hectares of crops.

Village resident Shalva Chilindrishvili was one of the local farmers who woke up this morning and found he was unable to grow and harvest crops on his own agricultural land.

My family has owned this land for years. Of course this is the Georgian territory and it is currently under the control of the central Government.

However the occupants came to us last year and said that part of my land, namely six hectares, was on so-called South Ossetian territory,” said Chilindrishvili.

I had been working there throughout the year and spent a lot of money on it. Now they are reaping my crop and are not letting me enter the area. I was expecting to reap 20 tonnes of crop”, he added.

Placing so-called border signs near Georgia’s central highway in several villages in Gori municipality and kidnapping the local population for "illegally crossing the border” has become a routine for Russian occupants.

This action, referred to as Russia’s creeping occupation, is becoming more and more regular, and more kilometers of Georgian soil in the heart of the country is becoming occupied by Russia, leaving more people affected by the illegal activities.