Reconciliation minister on new barbed wire fences: Russians are isolating occupied Tskhinvali
Georgian Minister of Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili came to the village today where Russia has erected new barbed wire fences. Photo: Imedi TV.
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Georgian Minister of Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili has come to the Atotsi village of Kareli municipality today, where occupants are erecting new barbed wire fences and stated that through this step, Russia is isolating the Tskhinvali region from the outside world and is creating “unbearable” conditions for ethnic Ossetians.
80-90 per cent of the population who face serious problems due to the barbed wire fences live in the occupied Tskhinvali region, mainly they are ethnic Ossetians, who need to move freely and are deprived of the right. The barbed wire fences are one piece of evidence showing how insignificant human rights and interests are to the occupants.
Georgians, the Abkhaz or Ossetians carry no interest for them, they just act based on their strategic and political interests,” Tsikhelashvili said, responding to the erection of new barbed wire fences by occupants at the village of Atsotsi, near breakaway Tskhinvali.
Tsikhelashvili said that the central Georgian government is using all available levers to respond to the illegality.
We have activated the hot line and are communicating with all our partners regarding the issue. We are communicating with Russia as well,” Tsikhelashvili said.
She said that the erection of the new wire fences could have been related to the election period in Georgia, “for Russians to exercise further pressure on the Georgian government and people.”
Tsikhelashvili said that the government of Georgia will continue its “peaceful fight” until all the barbed wire fences are destroyed on its territory.
She announced increased financial support for Georgian citizens who live in the villages near occupation lines, which will include 200 GEL vouchers in winter for gas and electricity and full coverage of university fees for students from such areas.
She stated that the government fully financed the studies of around 1,200 of such students over the course of the past four years.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has condemned the erection of new illegal barbed wire fences at the villages of Atotsi and Balta of the Kareli municipality, near the country’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region in the eastern part of Georgia.
Russia-controlled border guards and the leadership of Georgian eastern occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region are erecting barbed wire fences at the village of Balta, in the Kareli district of Georgia.
The total length of barbed wire fences illegally erected by Russian occupational troops on Georgian soil is 63km, as of today. All cases of human rights violation in Georgia’s occupied regions were collated into one document for the global community to review.
Tskhinvali closes so-called border
Georgian and Ossetian relatives residing near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating Georgia from its breakaway region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) will meet the New Year isolated from one another by barbed wire fences.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has stated that the government will not tolerate neither old nor new barbed wire fences on its historic land, responding to the erection of new barbed wire fences by occupants at the village of Atotsi near the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
The US Embassy in Georgia has released a statement regarding the erection of new barbed wire fences in the village of Atotsi of the Kareli municipality in eastern Georgia, near the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
The European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM), the only international monitoring presence in Georgian [with no access to occupied regions] has confirmed that “significant borderisation activities have been taking place in the area of the Georgian villages of Atotsi (Balta) since early November 2018.”
Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini has condemned Russia’s illegal activities in Georgia and the erection of new barbed wire fences by occupants in the Georgian village of Atotsi.
92 Georgian citizens have been illegally detained for crossing the so-called border of occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region this year – the same figure for the breakaway region of Abkhazia amounted to 25, the Georgian State Security Service told Agenda.ge.