Creeping occupation: Russia advances 10 hectares into Georgian territory

The Russian occupation forces deployed in central Georgia have moved the occupation line further into Georgian territory.

They have illegally placed a new so-called border sign in the village of Bershueti in the Gori Municipality yesterday. This step saw about 10 more hectares of Georgian soil in the heart of the country now become occupied by Russia.

Georgia’s State Security Service said in a statement released today that due to the new illegal "border sign”, parts of several local farmers’ agricultural lands have now fallen behind the occupation line.

"This is a continuation of the illegal process of the so-called borderization, which not only violates the fundamental rights of local residents but directly damages the security situation”, the statement read.

The office said that this issue will be raised by Georgia at the next Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting scheduled in the village of Ergneti for July 11.

The office of the Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said this afternoon that the President is outraged by the recent actions of the occupation force and expects that international society will properly react to the fact.

"Georgia will use all diplomatic levers at its disposal to stop the creeping occupation”, Margvelashvili said.

He added that information about moving the occupation line will be delivered to partners of Georgia and no fact of violating Georgia’s territorial integrity will remain unreacted to.