De facto Tskhinvali says erection of barbed-wire-fences will continue

Members of the de facto leadership of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) from Georgia’s Russia-occupied region say that they will continue the erection of illegal barbed-wire-fences, which is strongly condemned by the central Georgian government.

The Georgian government has demanded the suspension of the process, which stirs tension and humanitarian problems, during the 94th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting held in the village of Ergneti earlier today.

We will continue the process as it is important for making the state border,” Egor Kochiev from the de facto leadership said after the meeting.

EUMM head to Georgia Erik Hoeg tweeted:

Interested media are allowed into our IPRM tent for opening statements. Discussions aim to identify solutions to address many security problems at #ABL. Meetings are followed by debriefing to press by leading participants. pic.twitter.com/sJIUrobWrs

— Erik Hoeg (@erik_hoeg) July 18, 2019

Georgia has raised about 10 issues which concerned the illegal borderisation, everyday problems of locals and the cases of Georgian citizens who were killed in the region.

Tskhinvali continues to refuse to handover the internal organs of Archil Tatunashvili to properly investigate the case,” Irakli  Antadze, from the Georgian State Security Service said.

He stated that drones were mentioned on Tbilisi-administered territory, in the villages located near the occupation line, “however, Tkhinvali and Russia denied this.”

An intense, but generally fruitful 94-th #IPRM in Ergneti has just ended. The joint #EUMM and OSCE press release summarizing discussions can be found here: https://t.co/xiQCvOwoQD

— Erik Hoeg (@erik_hoeg) July 18, 2019

Kochiev said that they did not raise the issue of the handover of currently wanted Tskhinvali residents Sarmat Gabraev and Andrey Kabisov, who have been reported by the Tskhinvali media to be on Tbilisi administered territory.

 Antadze said that the investigation regarding the issue is ongoing and details will be revealed shortly.

Local media says that one of the wanted individuals is injured after a fight with law enforcers in Tskhinvali, but his life is not under threat.

The following meeting is scheduled for August 29.