EUMM speaks about significant borderisation activities by occupants in Atotsi village
The European Union Monitoring Mission urges the re-establishment of local meetings to address conflict issues. Photo: EUMM press office.
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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.”
A total of nearly 400 meters of new fencing work, running alongside the administrative boundary line with South Ossetia, have been observed by EUMM patrols in the area.
The EUMM is closely monitoring and reporting on such borderization activities that affect stability as well as the rights of people in the area,” the EUMM reported.
The mission stated that “regrettably, such infrastructure creates additional obstacles for freedom of movement” - and potentially the livelihoods - of the local population living on both sides of the occupation line.
It says that their managed hotline has been used extensively to communicate on the matter during the past days.
The EUMM has been urging relevant security bodies to avoid any further steps that could increase tensions,” the EUMM reports.
The mission says that the situation in Atotsi underscores the importance of re-establishing the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meetings in Ergneti where matters like this affecting stability on the ground can be addressed.
The EUMM as co-facilitator urges for a swift resumption of the IPRM format, which has since 2009 contributed to stability and security,” the statement reads.
Previous IPRM meetings have been left in protest by the representatives of de facto leadership of Georgian occupied regions and Russia, as Georgia had produced a list of people who have violated the rights of Georgian citizens in the occupied regions since 1990s.
The list provides sanctions for people in Georgia and abroad.
The statement says that in line with its mandate the mission keeps EU institutions and EU member states updated with an accurate and timely picture of the situation on the ground.
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.
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.
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.
A statement made by representative of de-facto Tskhinvali Yegor Kochiev for ‘South Ossetian’ news agency Res clearly shows that the Russian-occupied region plans to continue the borderisation process to “simplify the lives of people” in the unrecognised region.
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.
Russian occupants have released a Georgian citizen Otar Samniashvili who was illegally detained yesterday in the village of Khurvaleti, near the occupation line with breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region for “illegally crossing the border.”
Occupying forces have detained a cleric, Father David Durglishvili, near the village of Nikozi, next to the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region of Georgia. The illegal detention took place yesterday evening, when occupying forces claim the cleric “illegally crossed the [so-called] border”.
Occupying forces have detained two Georgian citizens for “illegally crossing the border” earlier today near the occupation line with the breakaway Abkhazia region, the Georgian State Security Service has confirmed.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry condemns the continued erection of barbed wire fences and other artificial barriers in the village of Atotsi in Kareli Municipality, near the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
The European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) has reported that they have observed “new fencing being installed” in the Village of Atotsi, Kareli municipality, by occupation forces, “creating additional barriers to the freedom of movement for the conflict affected population”. The occupation forces first put up barbed wire fences in the village of Atotsi in February 2014.