Tbilisi, EUMM deny de facto Tskhinvali reports on shooting at occupation line

Tbilisi and the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) have strongly denied reports by the de facto government of Georgia's Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region regarding shooting at the occupation line. 

De facto security committee of Tskhinvali has stated earlier today that an “armed conflict” took place between the personnel of the Georgian Interior Ministry and the residents of Koda village [Khashuri municipality, under Tbilisi control, near the occupied region] on November 5. 

The de facto agency says that locals were discontent “due to the placement of reinforced police posts in the villages of Chorchana-Kobi-Koda-Atotsi and the attempt of the Georgian Interior Ministry to raise Georgian flags on the slopes, escalating tension on the ground.” 

• Georgian FM: ‘humanitarian crisis in occupied regions is main challenge’

The de facto agency wrote that after the incident the Georgian Interior Ministry “exercised pressure on locals for them to say that the shooting was connected to the entry of a South Ossetian intelligence group on the Georgian territory.”

• EUMM reports details of current tension at Tskhinvali occupation line

 The Georgian State Security says that it is disinformation. 

The EUMM has stated that “no EUMM monitors have confirmed any shots being heard.”