De facto Tskhinvali accuses Tbilisi of triggering tension as ‘construction of police-post in Perevi’ begins again

The de facto government of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) has accused Tbilisi of triggering tension, stating that the central government of Georgia “renewed the construction of a police-post” in the village of Perevi, Sachkhere municipality,on the Tbilisi-controlled territory, on October 28. 

• Tbilisi denies reports by de facto Tskhinvali on opening of ‘new police checkpoint’

The de facto government says that the construction process is underway 50 meters from the village of Sinaguri, which is currently under Russian control. 

Instead of easing tension Tbilisi is taking provocative steps and increases the number of its forces at the bordering area,” Tskhinvali says. 

The Georgian State Security Service stated earlier in September that an existing police checkpoint at the village of Perevi will be relocated by several hundred meters on Tbilisi-controlled territory to shorten the route walked by locals.

People are able to cross the occupation line at the village only on foot and then they have to walk a long distance to the police checkpoint. To ease their movement, the checkpoint will be relocated and work has been launched for this. The de facto Tskhinvali leadership was informed regarding the change in May 2018 and afterwards, during several Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meetings,” the State Security Service said. 

Tskhinvali continues to demand the removal of another police post on Tbilisi-controlled territory, in the village of Chorchana, citing “security threats” as the reason.